HALITOSIS WITH FIXED ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCE VS REMOVABLE ORTHODONTIC ALIGNERS: A PILOT STUDY
without letting saliva inside( Fig. 3). After this operation, the clinician takes the syringe with the plunger open, empties it up to 0.5 ml, mounts the needle( supplied with the OralChroma™) and quickly inserts it into the machine’ s slot and pushes the piston of the syringe to put the air into the
machine that starts analyzing the sample of breath. The volatile sulfur compounds that are analyzed to identify the presence or absence of halitosis are: hydrogen sulphide H2S, methyl mercaptan CH3SH and dimethylsulfide( CH3) 2S( Fig. 4).
2a.
2b.
2c.
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. The results are reported in ppb or ng / 10ml. The unit chosen to present the results of this study is the ppb. To make a diagnosis of halitosis it is sufficient to have one of the three volatile sulfur compounds at a level higher than the threshold, that is different for each of the three gases. In particular: 112 ppb / 10 ml H2S Hydrogen sulfide, 26 ppb / 10 ml CH3SH methyl mercaptan and 8 ppb( CH3) 2S dimethylsulfide. 2.3. Data Evaluation The data obtained were collected in Excel sheets and analyzed by an analysis software. A statistical test for independent samples, Mann-Whitney test, and a statistical significance test used in the analysis of contingency tables, Fisher’ s exact test, was used to compare the two groups, a value difference of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The graphic system choosen to show the data is a box plot.
Figure 2 a-c. The patient must keep a sterile disposable 1 ml syringe in the oral cavity for 60 seconds
Figure 3. After 60 seconds, the patient must open and close the syringe plunger 2 times, without letting saliva inside
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