The National Clean Air Award

Smoking affects the health of your teeth

There are many lifestyle factors that can impact on the health of people’s teeth, such as nutrition, amount of sleep, mental stress, tobacco use, and exercise.

A study of 219 factory workers in Japan from 1999 to 2003 evaluated the effect of different lifestyle factors on the progression of periodontal diseases.

The study found that the number one lifestyle factor that independently impacted the progression of periodontal disease was smoking. The number of hours of sleep closely followed.

Over 41% of study participants who showed periodontal disease progression from 1999 to 2003 were current smokers.

In addition, lack of sleep was identified as a significant lifestyle factor that may play a role in the progression of periodontal disease.

“Our findings are in line with other studies that have identified smoking as a strong lifestyle factor affecting oral health,” said study author Muneo Tanaka.

Source: Medilexon 22 May 2007
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/2qutqh