Teen-age smoking and periodontal health

Objectives: Data is sparse on the effect of smoking on periodontal health in teenagers. Therefore, this study was made to examine the influence of smoking on oral health in a cohort of 15-16-year olds with the hypothesis that also teenage smokers have worse periodontal health than non-smokers. Methods: 501 adolescents (258 boys; 243 girls) were examined clinically and using a structured questionnaire of the health habits. Bite-wing x-rays were taken and periodontal indexes were recorded and pocket depth was measured according to the WHO recommendations. The results were analyzed using cross tabulation and p-values were obtained using binomial regression in order to fully use information collected at the site level. Results: Of smoking boys 47.7% brushed their teeth less than once daily, non-smoking boys at least once daily in 54.3% (p<0.001). Smoking and non-smoking girls brushed their teeth twice a daily in 48.5% and 42.9%, respectively. Visible Plaque Index (VPI) was 52.1% in boys, 43.7% in girls and Bleeding on Probing (BOP) was 53.3% in boys and 48.5% in girls (p<0.001). Boys had more >=4 mm pockets than girls (p<0.001) but no statistical difference was observed in attachment loss. Current smokers had higher VPI (55.8%) than non-smokers (46.0%) or former smokers (41.2%) (p<0.001, p<0.01) and also higher BOP (53.7%) scores than non-smokers (49.9%) (p<0.003). Calculus scores also differed between smokers (18.7%) and non-smokers (11.2%) (p<0.001). Conclusion: The effects of smoking on periodontal health in teenagers seemed to follow the same trend as in adults.