Dentistry Case: Treating Halitosis

Case: Ms. Paula Anne is a 40-year-old woman who works in a water company. Ms. Anne is suffering from halitosis, and during the examination, she told me that she always feel uncomfortable when talking to people due to her persistent bad breath. Anne admits that she occasionally take alcohol, smoke cigarette and rarely pays enough attention to oral hygiene. Moreover, the last time she visited her dentist was four years ago. She says that she is addicted to spicy foods including garlic. Many times she will take coffee even more than thrice a day. On examining her, I noted debris in her mouth, decayed particles of food in her tongue dorsum, and she produced an unpleasant odor. This bad breath is making Anne feel embarrassed. She asked me if she can use a tongue scraper or a microbial mouth rinse to improve the quality of her breathe. I think that a tongue scraper is good to have as food get stuck in the cracks of your tongue thus causing bad breath. However, since antimicrobial mouth rinse is also a good option, I will provide her with a better answer at her next appointment.

Worksheet A: Write the PICO Question for Your Case

1. Write the patient problem or question from your case:

2. Write three background questions based on the information from your case.

3. What is the best type of PICO question for your case?

A. Therapy/Prevention
B. Diagnosis
C. Harm/Etiology/Causation
D. Prognosis

4) Identify the Patient or Problem, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome for your case. If you don't have a therapy/prevention or diagnosis case, identify the elements that are best for your question.

A. Patient or Problem

B. Intervention

C. Comparison

D. Outcome

5. Using the information in question 4, write out your question in PICO format. Remember that this is a question, so end with a question mark!