Periodontal disease and smoking: An overview

The role of tobacco smoking as a causative factor in the development of the periodontal disease has long been debated and recently a large number of papers have been published in the literature regarding this symbiosis. Smoking also gives an encouraging environment for microbes in the mouth such as Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans because the by-products of smoking prevent the mechanisms that limit the growth of harmful bacteria in the oral cavity. Thus, smoking promotes early stages of periodontal disease. Smoking in the form of cigars and pipes have similar deleterious effects that cigarettes do on oral health. Much of the literature has also showed that smokers affected with periodontitis respond less favorably to periodontal treatment be it nonsurgical and surgical. In this paper, we have reviewed the effects of smoking on various aspects of the periodontal disease process.