In the JADA article, the authors discuss issues affecting self-perception of breath odor in patients who worry about bad breath, as well as in a more general population of those who do not worry about bad breath. They said that self-perception of breath odor was multifactor and related closely to one's body image and psychological profile. During an investigation at Tel Aviv University , from 1992-1995, the researchers asked "worrier" subjects to smell and rate odors coming from their mouths, tongues and saliva. The results, they say, confirmed that there is built-in subjectivity when people attempt to assess their own breath odor. For example, the authors said, subjects who worried about bad breath rated their own bad-breath levels as being higher than did an impartial odor judge. Later, the authors looked at a more general population of "non worriers" (60 subjects, 55 percent men and an average age of 35.5 years). They f...