Review
English
Mohamed Fadel
Oral Biology Department, Faculty of dentistry, Al Fateh University, Tripoli-Libya
JMJ Vol.5 No. 1 (Spring) 2006: 23-27
Abstract
Oral malodour halitosis has been considered a worrisome for centuries. References to bad breath and reminds for this condition can be found in the writing of ancient Greece and Roman including the works of Hippocrates the father of medicine (from 460-377 BC). The scientific approach to study halitosis commonly referred to as bad breath. Bad breath is a problem that traverses history, culture, race and sex writings. Oral malodour back dated to Greek and Roman time. Jewish liturgical teachings dating back almost two millennia state that a man who marries a woman and subsequently discovers that she has bad breath can summarily divorce her without fulfilling the terms of the marriage contract. Islamic theology stresses the importance of the Siwak as a special stick for cleaning the mouth including its use during the fast of Ramadan to prevent bad breath, the prophet Mohamed is said to have expelled a man who had previously eaten garlic from the mosque . In a recent study, people were asked to score the level of malodor emanating from their mouth, licked wrist and expectorated saliva. The results suggested that preconceived notions of how much bad breath one thinks should have, has a major confounding effect on subsequent scoring of self-measurements. Our reluctance to notify even those close to us that they suffer from this condition serves to further exacerbate the situation. Thus many people suffer unnecessarily from bad breath throughout their lives, without being remotely aware of it.
Keywords: Oral malodour, Halitosis, Causes, Treatment, Volatile sulphur components (VSC)
Link/DOI: http://www.jmj.org.ly/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=62