Long-term effect of smoking on vertical periodontal bone loss

The objective of the present study was to investigate the influence of smoking on vertical periodontal bone loss over 10 years.

The study base consisted of a population that was examined on two occasions with a 10-year interval, including 91 individuals, 24 smokers, 24 former smokers, and 43 non-smokers. The assessment of vertical bone loss was based on full sets of intra-oral radiographs from both time points. The severity of vertical bone loss was expressed as the proportion of proximal sites with vertical defects per person.

The 10-year increase in the proportion of vertical defects was statistically significant in all groups (p<0.001) and, in addition, significantly associated with smoking (p<0.05). In particular, the difference between smokers and non-smokers was significant (p<0.01) whereas former smokers did not differ from non-smokers. Moreover, the 10-year vertical bone loss was significantly greater in heavy exposure smokers than in light exposure smokers suggesting an exposure-response effect (p<0.01). Compared with non-smokers the unadjusted 10-year relative risk was 2.3-fold increased in light exposure smokers and 5.3-fold increased in heavy exposure smokers (p<0.05).

The present observations indicate a significant long-term influence of smoking on vertical periodontal bone loss, yielding additional evidence that smoking is a risk factor for periodontal bone loss.