Bad Breath it's not Just Embarrassing

Bad breath can be a sign of physical illness, doctor says

While bad breath can indicate poor dental hygiene, it can also indicate physical illness, an ear, nose and throat doctor said yesterday.

Liu Po-jen (劉博仁), director of Cheng Ching Hospital’s Otorhinolaryngology Department, said a 20-year-old woman recently visited him, but refused to speak when he asked her what brought her to the hospital. Instead, she gave him a note that read: “I have bad breath.”

“The young woman later confided that the embarrassing problem had deterred her from having a boyfriend, worrying that men might be repelled by her breath,” Liu said.

After a thorough examination, Liu said he was able to identify an inflamed right tonsil and tonsil stones as the source of her halitosis.

“The crypt of the patient’s right tonsil was rather deep, making it more likely for food debris to accumulate in it and for her to develop tonsil stones, one of the conditions that can cause bad breath,” Liu said.

The woman later had her right tonsil removed to put a permanent end to the problem.

Liu said different types of breath odors can indicate different diseases. For instance, diabetes can cause dry mouth and diabetic ketoacidosis — an acute metabolic complication of diabetes — and the breaths of its sufferers often smell like rotting fruit, he said.

Patients with hepatic failure and liver cirrhosis sometimes have breath that smells like rotten eggs, Liu said.

“Also, breath that smells urine-like or fishy can indicate kidney failure, while people with chronic sinusitis and tonsillitis can have a sour breath,” Liu said.