[The relationship among a portable gas chromatography, organoleptic method and portable sulfide detector to diagnose halitosis].

PURPOSE

To evaluate the relationship between a portable gas chromatography(GC-SCS) and other methods to diagnose halitosis.

METHODS

Fifty-five systemic healthy subjects were involved in the study.Halitosis intensity was examined by two experienced judges using organoleptic method. Halimeter was used to evaluate the concentrations of volatile sulfur compounds while GC-SCS was used to tell the volume of each volatile sulfur compound. SPSS11.5 software package was used for Pearson and Spearman correlation analysis.

RESULTS

The results showed that the concentration of hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan and total VSCs measured by GC-SCS was significantly related to the organoleptic scores with the correlational coefficients of 0.486, 0.529 and 0.491, respectively (P<0.01). There was no statistically significant relationship between the dimethyl sulfide values and the organoleptic scores. The VSCs value measured by Halimeter was significantly related to the concentration of hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan and total VSCs measured by GC-SCS with the correlational coefficients of 0.458, 0.522 and 0.436, respectively (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

GC-SCS relates well with organoleptic method and Halimter. It is suggested that GC-SCS may be a good way to diagnose halitosis.