Abstract

Halitosis is an important cause of impaired quality of life in adolescents. Little is known about the prevalence of self-reported halitosis in adolescents in Nigeria and the extent to which self-reported halitosis impairs their oral health related quality of life. To determine the prevalence and impact of self-reported halitosis on the oral health related quality of life of adolescent students in a suburban community in Nigeria. An analytical cross-sectional study. Pre-tested self-administered pro-forma was used to obtain the adolescents' demographic data and their self-perception of halitosis. The Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) was used to assess the adolescents' OHRQoL. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the median OHIP-14 scores between adolescents who reported halitosis and those who did not. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Ethics approval for this study was obtained from the Health Research and Ethics Committee of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. A total of 361 adolescents aged 10 - 19 years (mean age 14.1 ± 1.79 years) took part in the study. Of these, 32.7% (n=118) had self-reported halitosis. The median OHIP-14 score among adolescents with self-reported halitosis was 3 (0-9) while those who did not report halitosis had a median OHIP-14 score of 0 (0 - 5). This difference was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Self-reported halitosis significantly impaired the oral health related quality of life of the adolescents.

Highlights

  • Halitosis can be defined as an unpleasant odour that emanates from the mouth. 1, 2 It has been classified into three main categories: genuine, pseudo, and halitophobia

  • Halitosis is genuine if it is beyond a socially acceptable level; pseudo if it is only perceived by the affected person while halitophobia is halitosis that the affected person perceives as persisting after treatment. 1, 2

  • The Oral Health Impact Profile -14 (OHIP-14) has been validated as a measure of oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) among adolescents in Nigeria[18]

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Summary

Introduction

Halitosis can be defined as an unpleasant odour that emanates from the mouth. 1, 2 It has been classified into three main categories: genuine, pseudo, and halitophobia. 5, 16, 17 This study sought to add to this knowledge base by describing the prevalence of self-reported halitosis among adolescent students and the extent to which it impairs their oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) in a suburban community in Nigeria. Little is known about the prevalence of self-reported halitosis in adolescents in Nigeria and the extent to which self-reported halitosis impairs their oral health related quality of life. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and impact of self-reported halitosis on the oral health related quality of life of adolescent students in a suburban community in Nigeria. Conclusion: Self-reported halitosis significantly impaired the oral health related quality of life of the adolescents. Self-reported halitosis and oral health related quality of life in adolescent students from a suburban community in Nigeria.

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