Chronic exposure to smoking is a strong predictor of periodontal disease prevalence in young adults, say researchers in the April issue of Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology.
A group of international researchers, led by Dr. Murray Thomson of the University of Otago in New Zealand, examined the role of chronic exposure to cigarette smoking in 914 26-year-old men and women in a longstanding prospective cohort study.
Researchers measured loss of attachment, or LOA, at three sites per tooth in two randomly selected contralateral quadrants in each subject. They also took the subjects cigarette smoking histories at ages 15, 18, 21 and 26 years and categorized them as never-smokers, ever-smokers, long-term smokers and very–long-term smokers.
The prevalence of LOA of 4 or more millimeters among the entire study sample was 19.4 percent. Among the subjects who smoked at ages 15, 18, 21 and 26 years, the prevalence was 33.6 percent. After controlling for sex, self-care and dental visits, researchers found that subjects who smoked were almost three times more likely than their nonsmoking peers to experience LOA. The longer these subjects’ history of smoking, the greater the extent of their disease.
The authors said the study results show that smoking that persists through mid-adolescence and into adulthood can double the likelihood of periodontitis’ occurring when smokers are in their mid-20s. These results also provide clear evidence of periodontal disease at an age when young adults are at their healthiest.
