[Investigation of people's attitudes and reactions towards oral malodour. A preliminary survey conducted on dental hygienics students].

As part of the study on the prevention of oral malodour, people's attitudes and reactions towards oral malodour were investigated in this study. As a preliminary survey, investigation was made by questionnaire on a total of 179 students at three dental hygienics schools in November 1988. The findings are as follows: 1. Of the total number of the students questioned, 47% sometimes feel uneasy about their own oral malodour, while 35% have never thought about it. Only 6% have been told they had oral malodour. 2. Although 98% of the respondents felt sick when they became aware of another person's oral malodour, 53% of them told the other person of their discomfort when the person with oral malodour was a parent, brother, sister, or a very close friend. 3. About half (52%) of the students said, they practice the prevention of oral malodour by brushing their teeth, and 50% like to use mouthwashes. Of the total, 88% wished to know whether they had oral malodour or not. 4. Overwhelming majority knew of mouthwashes through TV commercials and advertisements in magazines, 80% of those could name any one of the tradenames of the mouthwashes. 5. These findings indicated that dental health education on oral malodour and mouthwashes would be important in future.