What Causes Bad Breath (Halitosis)?
Halitosis is a generic term used to describe unpleasant odor emanating from the mouth air and breath, independent of the source where the odor substances originate. It affects between 50 and 65% of the population , but despite its frequency, this problem is often unaccepted and declared as taboo. 90% of patients suffering from halitosis have oral causes . A small, but important percentage, of oral malodor cases have an extra-oral etiology, very often falling into the category of "blood-borne halitosis". Several systemic diseases have been found to provoke malodor or to be a cofactor; bad breath may be an early sign of a serious local or systemic condition. A psychogenic halitosis also exists including the variant " pseudo-halitosis" , when the oral malodor does not exist, but the patient believes he or she is suffering severely from it, and the halitophobia , when, instead, there is an exaggerated fear of having halitosis. It is important to determine quickly wheth...