DENTAL HYGIENE
HALITOSIS WITH FIXED ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCE VS REMOVABLE ORTHODONTIC ALIGNERS: A PILOT STUDY
Luca Levrini 1a *, Domenico Posimo 2b, Giulia Tieghi 2c, Giulio Gualandi 1d, Alberto Caprioglio 1e ¹ Department of Surgical and Morphological Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy ² School of Dentistry, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy
a
DDS, PhD, Associate Professor; President, Dental Hygiene School; Director, Research Centre Cranio Facial Disease and Medicine, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy; Assistant Medical Director, Dental Clinic, Fondazione Macchi Hospital, Varese, Italy b dental student c
Dental Hygienist, dental student d
DDS, Post Graduate Program in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics e
DDS, PhD, Associate Professor, Chief Program in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics
Received: March 22, 2016 Accepted: April 22, 2016
Available online: May 05, 2016
Cite this article: Levrini L, Posimo D, Tieghi G, Gualandi G, Caprioglio A. Halitosis with fixed orthodontic appliance vs removable orthodontic aligners: a pilot study. Stoma Edu J. 2016; 3( 1): 150-155.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Halitosis is a widespread condition and is a big handicap for the patients. Most adults suffer from bad breath, an estimated 10-30 percent of the USA population, and this may lead to personal discomfort and social disagreement. Furthermore, some authors estimate that approximately 50 % of the middle-aged and older individuals emit socially unacceptable breath, especially in the morning, which can be attributed to physiological causes. Methodology: For the purposes of this study 10 patients with aligners( aligners grup- AG) and 10 patients with fixed orthodontic appliance( fixed group- FG) were selected. This experiment aims to detect the presence of halitosis with a gaschromatograph( OralChroma™). The machine analyzes the air sample and provides results in 8 minutes by creating a graphic that shows the amount of 3 volatile sulfur compounds. Results: The values measured by the gascromatograph show a significant difference between the two groups. We also considered the average values of both groups. The averages confirm the difference between AG and FG group( FG average > AG average) in all three values. Conclusion: This study is only a pilot study and should be expanded in order to produce more consistent results, but we can already assert that the possibility to remove the oral device certainly provides a better outcome for oral hygiene procedures and, consequently, improves the halitosis condition. In conclusion we can consider oral hygiene and halitosis as important factors in order to decide what kind of orthodontic device is better suited for the single patient. Keywords: halitosis, orthodontic appliance, clear aligners, volatile sulfur compounds( VSC), gaschromatograph.
1. Introduction Halitosis is a widespread condition and is a big handicap for the patients. Most adults suffer from bad breath, an estimated 10-30 percent of the USA population, and this may lead to personal discomfort and social disagreement 1. Furthermore, some authors estimate that approximately 50 % of the middle-aged and older individuals emit socially unacceptable breath, especially in the morning; this can be attributed to physiological causes 2. Halitosis, which means foul breath, might be related to physiologic and / or pathologic reasons 3 such as ear nose-throat diseases( chronic sinusitis, tonsillitis), gastrointestinal system diseases, diabetes mellitus, and acute rheumatic fever. Also, more frequently, halitosis can be related to intraoral factors, including especially gram-negative anaerobic microorganisms on the dental plaque, in the periodontal pockets, in the saliva, and on the dorsum of the tongue 4. Besides these causes we should consider orthodontic treatment too. With the presence of fixed orthodontic appliances, efficiency when performing dental hygiene procedures decreased
* Corresponding author:
Associate Professor Luca Levrini, DDS, PhD, President, Dental Hygiene School Director, Research Centre Cranio Facial Disease and Medicine University of Insubria Via Giuseppe Piatti, 10 I-21100 Varese VA, Italy Tel / Fax: 0332.825.663, e-mail: luca. levrini @ uninsubria. it
150 STOMA. EDUJ( 2016) 3( 2)