Nir Sterer and Mel RosenbergBreath OdorsOrigin, Diagnosis, and Management10.1007/978-3-642-19312-5_1© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011
1. Introduction
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Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel
Abstract
Breath odor is a common condition affecting those who have it, and those in their proximity. Until the 1980s, most research was carried out at private companies (mainly those producing mouthwash and those testing it), which tended to publish little and protect as much of their “know how” as possible. There were only a few scientists working on this subject in isolated university laboratories, often separated by thousands of kilometers.
Breath odor is a common condition affecting those who have it, and those in their proximity. Until the 1980s, most research was carried out at private companies (mainly those producing mouthwash and those testing it), which tended to publish little and protect as much of their “know how” as possible. There were only a few scientists working on this subject in isolated university laboratories, often separated by thousands of kilometers.
However, the past two decades have seen this subject spawn a scientific community, with a society (ISBOR, the International Society for Breath Odor Research), international meetings (the ninth was recently held in Sau Paulo, Brazil) and a recently accredited international journal (The Journal of Breath Research, IOP Publishing). This growing body of research has managed to shed light on some of the questions regarding this field while other still remains open.