Abstract
Cigarette smoking is associated with an increased risk of tooth loss. The purpose of this study was to investigate a dose-response effect for cigarette smoking and tooth loss. The participants in this survey were 737 males (aged 25 to 54) working as bank employees. The investigation continued for 4 years from 1997 and all subjects had 28 teeth (without third molars) in 1997. Smokers were classified into 3 groups : nonsmokers, ≦10 cigarettes/day and ≧20 cigarettes/day. For certain analyses, subjects were grouped into age categories of 25-34, 35-44 and 45-54 years. Among those aged 25-34, the results of mean tooth loss analysis showed 0.09 for the nonsmoker group, 0.07 for the ≦l0 cigarettes/day smoker group and 0.26 for the ≧20 cigarettes/day group with statistical significance (p<0.05). Smokers in the ≧20 cigarettes/day group showed an increased risk of tooth loss of 1.42 (95% CI : 0.99 to 2.04) times compared to nonsmokers, among subjects aged 25-34 years. These results indicate that there was no clear dose-response effect with cigarette smoking, but the risk of tooth loss tended to increase with the number of cigarettes.
