Just wondering how you guys handle it. Is it something you just get used to? 
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You get used to it, but I’ll never forget a cleaning where I pulled out a massive chunk of meat (looked like sisig). Once it was out, I almost gagged inside my mask because the stench was so intense. It looked like it had been stuck in the upper molar area for days. Since then, I haven’t been able to eat much pork sisig. 
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Odors are expected, particularly with very dark teeth needing restoration. Sometimes the smell really clings even through a face mask, but it’s just part of the job lol
Honestly, I had a 16-year-old patient, a pretty goth girl with eyebrow and lip piercings. I felt so bad for her because when she opened her mouth, it turned out her last cleaning was back in 7th grade. Her front teeth were badly decayed and her molars were beyond saving. I had to do some very heavy scaling. It’s such a shame because she seemed so put together and smart, but her oral health didn’t match her appearance. She had fresh salon nails, full makeup, and an iPhone 16 Pro Max while I’m just using a 13. They clearly have the means, but it’s just sad. Her mom was my patient right before her and already had a worse profile than her daughter. It’s depressing.
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Standard bad breath is fine, you get used to it. What I can’t stand is Acetone Breath. It feels like even after the patient is gone, the smell lingers inside your nose. 
Believe it or not, there are dentists with bad breath too… yes!
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I remember my nursing OJT in a hospital cleaning a patient with bedsores. Honestly, I’d rather smell a sewer.
Yeah, you just get used to it. The smell hits you harder when we use the air syringe than during dental drilling.
I’ve been wondering about that too lol
Sometimes even with a double mask you can still smell it hahaha but you just have to bear it.
In our clinic, we perform an Organoleptic Saliva Test, where we specifically smell the breath and score it based on intensity. It’s a diagnostic tool for us to find the source of halitosis. We’re used to it and there’s no judgment. This is our way of detecting if the halitosis is due to an oral or systemic issue. Sometimes, a patient doesn’t know they have a medical condition, but the halitosis is what signals it.
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