Adult tobacco smokers are four times more likely to develop oral health problems but much less likely than nonsmokers to go to the dentist regularly, according to a report released February 7 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The study, which included more than 16,000 adults between the ages of 18 and 64 who participated in the 2008 National Health Interview Survey, also found that although more than a third of smokers included in the report said they have three or more dental problems, 20% said they had not been to a dentist in at least five years. Among nonsmokers and former smokers, 10% had stayed away that long.
Cost was cited as the main reason that most adults with an oral health problem did not see a dentist in the past six months; 56% of current smokers, 36% of former smokers, and 35% of never smokers said they could not afford treatment or did not have insurance.
"Overall, current smokers had a poorer oral health status and more oral health problems than either former smokers or never smokers," the report authors noted. "However, current smokers were more likely to think that their oral health problem was important."
The evidence for an association between tobacco use and oral diseases has been clearly shown in every U.S. surgeon general's report on tobacco since 1964. Tobacco use is a risk factor for oral cancers, periodontal diseases, and dental caries, among other diseases.
