The Effect of Smoking on Salivary Calcium Levels, Calcium Intake, and Bleeding on Probing in Female

Smoking is a bad habit that affects both systemic and oral conditions. Nicotine in cigarettes reduces estrogen production that can alter salivary calcium levels. Nicotine also causes vasoconstriction of the gingival blood vessels and decreases gingival bleeding. Low dietary calcium intake is also suspected to influence the low serum calcium levels in smokers. In this study, we evaluated the effect of smoking on salivary calcium levels, calcium intake, and BOP in women.

This was an analytical study using a cross-sectional approach. The subjects were 26 female smokers and 37 nonsmokers. Unstimulated saliva was collected by the spitting method. Salivary calcium levels were measured using an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The calcium intake was obtained by the Semiquantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire. BOP was measured by a gingival bleeding index by Ainamo and Bay in 1975.

All the basic characteristics including age, BMI, level of education, and occupation were statistically different between groups. The mean calcium level of female smokers was significantly lower than that of nonsmokers, whereas the mean BOP of female smokers was significantly higher. The total calcium intake per day of the two groups was not statistically different. The mean salivary calcium level and BOP decreased when the duration of smoking was longer. There was a positive correlation between salivary calcium level and BOP in the smokers' group.

A low level of education may be contributing to the smoking habit of subjects in this study. Salivary calcium levels were correlated with BOP in female smokers, which might be affected by the duration of smoking.