Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical effects of surgical therapy in smokers and non-smokers.
Fifty-Seven patients (age range 27-66 years, average 49.9 years), 32 men and 25 women, were investigated.
Twenty five of the patients were smokers and 32 were non-smokers. The patients had moderate to severe periodontitis with persistent diseased sites (probing depth 4mm or more) after non-surgical therapy. The surgical modalities used were the modified Widman flap operation or the apically repositioned flap operation.
Re-examination was done 2 months or more after surgery.
The oral hygiene status and gingival bleeding index were similar in the two groups. No differ-ences were observed regarding probing depths except for palatal pockets of the maxilla where a significantly greater probing depth was observed in smokers (P<0.05).
The results suggest that smoking may impair the outcome of surgical therapy.
