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
152 STOMA . EDUJ ( 2016 ) 3 ( 2 )