What does the term halitosis mean? Methods for testing for halitosis.
Just in case you are wondering, halitosis is medical terminology for bad breath. Halitosis is derived from the Latin word “halitus,” which means breath, and the Greek suffix “osis,” which means condition.
It’s somewhat fitting that the formal term for bad breath has been derived from words from ancient languages. Hebraic literature (the Talmud) dating back over two thousand years ago states that a marriage license (the Ketuba) can be broken if one of the partners has breath malodor. Similar references can be found in the literature of the Greeks, Romans and early Christians.
How do you test for halitosis?
Researchers have for tried to develop scientific methods that can quantify the severity of halitosis. This is because a human’s sense of smell, at least for research purposes, introduces too many variables.
It’s easy to understand how an olfactory appraisal of halitosis might vary from one individual tester to another. But research has also shown that any one tester’s evaluation of a single person’s halitosis will be inconsistent too. This variance is due to factors such as hunger, menstrual cycle, head positioning, and the number of consecutive times the tester has been exposed to an odor.
Several types of scientific apparatuses have been borrowed from other scientific fields or specifically designed to quantify degrees of halitosis. The list of these tools includes gas chromatographs, sulfide meters (Halimeters), and chemiluminescence detectors.
For the purposes of our discussion here however, despite all of its drawbacks, all you really need when evaluating a person’s breath for halitosis is a good old fashion organoleptic testing device. This equipment is cheap, widely available, very portable, very sensitive (it can distinguish up to about 10,000 different smells), and while not perfect, is really a pretty good indicator of the quality of a person’s breath. If you haven’t guessed by now, the “organoleptic device” that we’re alluding to here is the human nose.
Incoming search terms for the article:
Similar articles
- Bad breath: Testing yourself for Halitosis. What causes bad breath?
Organoleptic testing for bad breath. Judging a person’s breath by way of organoleptic testing simply means that the researcher performing the breath evaluation has used their sense of smell (their nose) as the means for making a determination. Historically this method of breath testing has been a frequent choice among dental researchers. Noses are readily
... - Bad Breath Test
If you’re worried you might have bad breath odor, simply perform any of these bad breath tests to determine whether you have a problem. If you do, I’ll let you know about a great resource that will help you kill bad breath instantly. 1. REQUEST THE HELP OF A FRIEND OR LOVED ONE. If you
... - Knock out Bad Breath
Warning: Joining the “Knock Out Bad Breath” Mailing List may result in your permanently conquering the bad breath monster and causing it to scamper away whimpering, never to return. And if bad breath did return, you would know exactly what to do to send it away again. Get the fresh, clean
... - Bad Breath and the Battle of Bacteria
Do you have bad breath, really bad breath? It might not be the garlic or onions, coffee or alcohol. Rather, a new study links it to the types of bacteria that dominate the back portion of the top of your tongue. Some bacteria protect against halitosis, the formal name for really bad breath, while others
... - Hydro Floss Machine
Hydro Floss Machine At the Center For Breath Treatment we strongly recommend our patients use the Hydro Floss machine as an excellent way to eliminate bad breath problems and to provide a much healthier oral environment. This new device is being recommended by more and more dentists because of its beneficial effects in the
...