[Halitosis concomitant with chronic ENT pathology in children].

The objective of the present study was to estimate the potential of gas chromatography as a tool for diagnostics of chronic ENT pathology in the children. A total of 37 patients aged between 5 and 18 years with chronic ENT diseases and complaints of foul breath were available for the examination. Thirty one children presented with chronic tonsillitis, 3 with chronic adenoiditis, 2 with chronic rhinosinusitis, and 1 with subatrophic rhinitis. It was shown with the use of gas chromatography that the exhaled air from 34 (91.9%) patients contained cadaverin at a concentration of 0.004-0.0009 mg/ml. Three (8.1%) children exhaled methyl mercaptan (0.01-0.025 mg/m3) and hydrogen sulfide (0.002-0.006 mg/m3), and 2 (5.4%) patients exhaled the air containing dimethyl disulfide (0.009-0.002 mg/m3). The volatile sulfur-containing compounds were detected only in the children aged above 14 years. It is concluded that chronic tonsillitis is the leading etiological factor responsible for the development of the extraoral form of halitosis in the children. The foul breath in the children unlike that in the adults is most frequently due to the enhanced cadaverin concentration in the exhaled air rather than the production of volatile sulfur-containing compounds.