Abstract:
The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine the patterns of periodontal destruction in Thai adults. This study is part of a longitudinal study that has been conducted to identify causes of death among the elderly workers of Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand since 1985. Severity of periodontal destruction and extent of periodontal diseased sites were compared between current, former and never smokers as well as within the same smoking status group. Eight hundred ninety one subjects ranging in age from 52-73 years with at least 4 sites with probing depth > 4 mm or clinical attachment level ≥ 5 mm. Subjects were subset according to smoking status into 134 current smokers, 350 former smokers and 407 never smokers. All subjects had same level in oral hygiene cares indicated by plaque control record. The significant difference between groups was tested by Kruskral-Wallis test and post hoc multiple comparisons using the Conover-Inman test (p<0.05), within group was tested by Friedman test (p<0.05). This study revealed that each smoking status group has similar periodontal destruction pattern. Current smokers had significantly more severe periodontal destruction and more diseased sites than former and never smokers. Especially, palatal sites of upper posterior teeth exhibited the major differences between current and never smokers in mean probing depth, mean percent of sites with probing depth ≥ 4 mm and mean percent of sites with clinical attachment level ≥ 5 mm. Moreover, palatal sites of upper posterior teeth in current smokers showed the highest periodontal destruction and significantly higher than other sextants. The greatest mean clinical attachment level was found at lingual sites of lower anterior teeth which clinically present as recession. In conclusion, cigarette smoking caused harmful effect to periodontal destruction particularly at palatal sites of upper posterior teeth. This data suggested that there might be a local effect of cigarette smoking in addition to a systemic effect and plaque accumulation.