Oral Health Satus and Oral Malodour among Malaysian Dental Students

Objective: To determine factors associated with clinical and perceived oral malodour and to find differences between them. Methods: The research was conducted on 163 dental students in Kuala Lumpur (Male=25, Female=138). Prior to clinical oral malodour measurement by organoleptic method (OM) and Oral Chroma^TM, subjects were asked of their perception on self-oral malodour. Then, oral examination of dental caries, periodontal pocket depth, tongue coating and saliva was carried out. Chi-square, t-test and simple logistic regression were performed using SPSS19 with level of significance set at 0.05. Results: Mean differences of volatile sulphide compounds (VSCs) between students with clinical oral malodour by OM and those without were statistically significant (p<0.001). Meanwhile, no significant differences were noted in mean values of all three VSCs between students who perceived they had oral malodour and those who did not. Significant associations of clinical oral malodour were noted with tongue coating, gingival bleeding, pocket depth and untreated decay (p<0.05). The odds for clinical oral malodour by logistic regression analysis among students with tongue coating >1/3 of their tongue dorsum were seven times higher than those with less tongue coating (OR=7.1, p<0.001). Only plaque index had a significant distributional difference between students who perceived they had oral malodour and those who did not (p<0.001). Logistic regression analysis on perceived oral malodour showed that students with plaque index >1 were more inclined to perceive they had oral malodour (OR=2.79, p=0.03). Conclusion: Oral health status especially tongue coating was closely associated with clinical oral malodour. On the other hand, perceived oral malodour was not related to oral health status except plaque index. One’s perception of oral malodour did not reflect clinically detectable oral malodour. Thus, every dental professional should be aware of the differences between clinical and perceived oral malodour to educate and manage oral malodour problems.