Research Article Correlations between Perceived Oral Malodor Levels and Self-Reported Oral Complaints Atsushi Kameyama, 1,2 Kurumi Ishii, 3 Sachiyo Tomita, 4 Chihiro Tatsuta, 3 Toshiko Sugiyama, 2 Yoichi Ishizuka, 5 Toshiyuki Takahashi, 2 and Masatake Tsunoda 2 1 Department of Endodontics and Clinical Cariology, Tokyo Dental College, Tokyo, Japan 2 Division of General Dentistry, Tokyo Dental College Chiba Hospital, Chiba, Japan 3 Tokyo Dental College School of Dental Hygiene, Chiba, Japan 4 Department of Periodontology, Tokyo Dental College, Tokyo, Japan 5 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Tokyo Dental College, Tokyo, Japan Correspondence should be addressed to Atsushi Kameyama; kameyama@tdc.ac.jp Received 3 March 2015; Accepted 2 July 2015 Academic Editor: Manuel Lagravere Copyright © 2015 Atsushi Kameyama et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objectives. Even though objective data indicating the absence of oral malodor are presented to patients, they may be skeptical about the results, possibly due to the presence of some discomfort in the oral cavity. Te objective of this study was to investigate whether there is an association among self-perceptions of oral malodor, oral complaints, and the actual oral malodor test result. Materials and Methods. Questions concerning self-perceptions of oral malodor and subjective intraoral symptoms were extracted from a questionnaire on oral malodor completed by 363 subjects who visited the clinic for oral malodor of Tokyo Dental College Chiba Hospital and gave consent to this study. In addition, the association of self-perception of oral malodor with values obtained afer organoleptic and OralChroma measurement was analyzed. Results. No correlation between 195 subjects (54%) who were judged “with oral malodor” (organoleptic score of ≥1) and 294 subjects (81.6%) who had a self-perceptions of oral malodor was observed. Self-perception of oral malodor was signifcantly correlated with tongue coating ( = 0.002) and a strange intraoral taste ( = 0.016). Conclusions. Subjects with a self-perception of oral malodor were not necessarily consistent with those actually having an oral malodor. In addition, it was suggested that patients became aware of oral malodor when they felt oral complaints. 1. Introduction Increasing awareness of cleanliness by society in general has heightened interest in odor. Since one cannot sense oral malodor accurately by oneself, bad breath brings marked psychological discomfort and may interfere with social inter- actions [1]. Many people feel anxiety or distress regarding oral malodor, even though they may have no such oral malodor. Tey may believe they have oral malodor when they see someone touching his/her nose or grimacing during a conversation [2]. Even though a dentist judges the oral malodor level by smelling and informs patients that there is no oral malodor, it is difcult for them to accept it because the procedure is based on the examiner’s subjectivity. Terefore, it is neces- sary to measure the actual oral malodor level by measur- ing major oral malodor-related volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) contained in exhaled air, hydrogen sulfde (H 2 S), methyl mercaptan (CH 3 SH), and dimethyl sulfde ((CH 3 ) 2 S), and “objectively” inform patients of the actual oral malodor level [3]. Many pseudohalitosis patients are convinced and relieved when the examiner (dentists and dental hygienists) inform them that there is no need to worry about oral malodor by showing the VSC measurement results [3, 4]. On the other hand, some people visiting an outpatient clinic for oral malodor are skeptical even though these objective data are presented [5]. Tey may be diagnosed with “halitophobia” based on the classifcation reported by Murata Hindawi Publishing Corporation International Journal of Dentistry Volume 2015, Article ID 343527, 6 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/343527