Clinical course of chronic periodontitis: effect of lifelong light smoking (20 years) on loss of attachment and teeth.

Aim: To examine the lifelong effect of light smoking on periodontal health.

Methods: The data were derived from a 20-year longitudinal study of a group of Norwegian, middle-class males. The patients were subset according to their smoking history. A total of 119 non-smokers and 17 smokers were examined, 20 years apart.

Results: Current smokers had significantly higher plaque indices than non-smokers after the age of 35 years, while before 35 years, there was no difference. Before 20 years of age, the non-smokers exhibited greater gingival indices, but after the age of 35, the smokers had significantly more sites that bled upon probing. Smokers demonstrated higher mean calculus indices after 35 years and as they approached 50 years of age. At baseline, the two groups showed similar attachment loss (0.14 mm), but with increasing age and approaching 50 years, the attachment loss progressed significantly faster in smokers than in non-smokers (2.31 and 1.57 mm, respectively). Linear regression indicated that ageing and light smoking were independently and significantly related to attachment loss.

Conclusions: Lifelong light smoking could be confirmed as a risk factor for periodontal disease progression. However, in this population, smoking did not significantly increase the risk of tooth loss.