Clinical oral malodor measurement with a portable sulfide monitor

Objective:  The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical ability of Breathtron^® by comparing it with other malodor measurement procedures: the organoleptic test (OT) and gas chromatography (GC).
Subjects and methods:  Patients were 475 patients who visited a fresh breath clinic. Oral malodor was measured with the OT, GC, and Breathtron^®. Correlation analysis and two linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship of the Breathtron^® values with OT scores and volatile sulfide compound (VSC) concentrations by GC: i.e. the regression of Breathtron^® on OT and the regression of Breathtron^® on total VSCs by GC. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was conducted to investigate the sensitivity and specificity of Breathtron^®.
Results:  The Breathtron^® values were significantly correlated with OT and VSCs by GC. In the regression analysis, predicted Breathtron^® values were 199.3 and 520.1 ppb for OT scores 1 and 2, and reasonably close to total VSCs by GC between 550 and 750 ppb. The ROC analysis demonstrated that Breathtron^® is a useful and valuable adjunct measurement tool.
Conclusions:  Breathtron^® is a simple, rapid and reliable appliance for screening oral malodor if an appropriate malodor threshold level is chosen.