Epidemiologic Characterization of Inverted Smokers in a Colombian Community

Objectives: Smoking has negative influences in the oral cavity, producing teeth and dental restorations staining, alterations in wound healing and decreasing the olfactory and taste capacity; in addition, it is a precursor of diseases such as leucoplakia, nicotinic stomatitis and oral candidiasis; these pathologies are associated with every smoking form and principally with the inverted smoking form.
Alvarez G. et al. (2008), highlighted that the inverted smoking habit is a particular custom of low-income groups, also it presents in tropical areas of northern Colombia, with women performing it more frequently, especially after the third decade of life. The clinical aspect of the oral mucosa in patients with this habit varies when compared to conventional smokers and the most commonly affected areas are tongue and palate.
Methods: Descriptive study which consisted of performing an exhaustive clinical record that included a thorough stomatological examination. During the anamnesis, the time of evolution, frequency and form of the habit was inquired. The results were expressed in frequencies and percentages.
Results: Of the 36 patients, 88.8% (32) were females and inverted smokers for more than 25 years, 35 patients were black and one mestizo; 61.2% (22) of the patients were older than 60 years. 83.6% of the patients smoked this way because of cultural and family roots considered as normal within their social environment. The stomatological examination revealed that 83.6% of the patients had oral lesions. The most affected intraoral site is the palate (75%) followed by the tongue. Three patients (8.3%) presented vegetative ulcer lesions on hard and soft palate that corresponded to squamous cell carcinoma.
Conclusions: The dentist’s role is fundamental in the identification and early diagnosis of potentially malignant disorders which occur on inverted smoking patients, since they can be rapidly detected.
Education is a great alternative for health promotion and behavioral changes towards this habit.