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By Charnicia Huggins
NEW YORK, Mar 20 (Reuters Health) - Teenage smokers are nearly three times as likely as their nonsmoking peers to have gum disease in their mid-20s, results of a new study suggest.
"The most important point of the study is that the adverse effects of tobacco smoking on gum health begin even earlier than was previously thought," lead study author Dr. Murray Thomson, of the University of Otago in New Zealand, told Reuters Health.
"At the public health level, measures aimed at reducing smoking will also have positive benefits for oral health," he said.
To investigate the association between smoking and gum disease in young people, Thomson's group measured loss of periodontal attachment--the bony and soft-tissue support for the teeth--in about 900 men and women aged 26 years. The investigators asked the study participants about their smoking habits at the ages of 15, 18, 21 and 26.
Those who reported smoking at each age of follow-up were almost three times as likely as their "never smoking" peers to experience loss of attachment, a sign of chronic gum disease, the authors report in the April issue of Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology. And the longer these individuals reported smoking, the greater the extent of disease, study findings indicate.
This was true even after the researchers took into account the participants' toothbrushing and flossing habits, as well as dental visits.
The study "provides clear evidence of periodontal disease at an age when young adults are at their healthiest," the authors conclude.
"Don't start smoking," Thomson advised. "If you have, then ceasing the habit will also be good for your gums."
According to Dr. Marjorie Jeffcoat, from the University of Alabama School of Dentistry, it is "totally logical" that those who begin smoking at younger ages will have a lifetime of risk for periodontal disease.
Citing emerging evidence that individuals with periodontal disease may also be at risk for cardiovascular disease or preterm births, she said "It's all one more reason why people shouldn't smoke."
Jeffcoat is not affiliated with Thomson's research.
SOURCE: Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 2001;29:130-135.
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