The Effects of Some Halitosis Removal Methods on the Reduction of Intraoral Volatile Methyl Mercaptan Concentrations

수종 구취제거법이 구강내 휘발성 메틸머캅탄 감소에 미치는 영향

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of tooth brushing, mouth gargling and gum chewing in reducing halitosis, 84 individuals ranging in age from 22 59 28 years old were examined. These individuals had no gross oral abnormalities, other than mild gingival inflammation, dental caries, nasopharyngeal disorder, or systemic diseases that were associated with halitosis. They were divided into a tooth brushing group, a mouth garging group, a gum chewing group and a control group that did not use any halitosis removing method. Each of the groups included 21 persons, B.B. Checker (Tokuyama Soda Col, LTDl, Japan) was used to measure the concentrations of intraoral volatile methyl mercaptan of each group. The concentrations of intraoral volatile methyl mercaptan were measured before and after lunch, and after removing halitosis by toothe brushing, mouth gargling and gum chewing. The obtained results were as follows : 1. The average concentration of intraoral volatile methyl mercaptan before lunch was 1.79ppm and after lunch it was 2.02ppm, an increase of 12.9%. 2. In the tooth brushing group the average concentration of intraoral volatile methyl mercaptan was 0.61ppm, in the mouth gargling group it was 1.15ppm, in the gum chewing group it was 1.64ppm and in the control group it was 1.92ppm. It decreased 69.5% in the tooth brushing group, 43.8% in the mouth gargling group, 18.4% in the gum chewing group and 5.4% in the control grop (p<0.05). 3. There were significant differences between the tooth brushing and control group, tooth brushing and gum chewing group and between mouth gargling and control group in concentrations of intraoral volatile methyl mercaptan after using the halitosis removing methods (p<0.05). According to the above results, tooth brushig and mouth gargling are effective ways to reduce halitosis.