There is overwhelming evidence that tobacco usage produces harmful effects in the mouth.Among the various health staff groups,dentists are those most frequently in contact with the population.This fact renders dentists favorable position in connection with tobacco intervention.Evidence shows that clinical interventions during dental care are as effective as in other healthcare settings.In this document,the harmful effects of tobacco usage are briefly reviewed.

    Although smoking is a factor that has often been included in the analysis of caries rates there is insufficient evidence of any etiological relationship.From the evidence mentioned above on the relation between tobacco usage and saliva composition this is not surprising.If thiocyanate concentrations are higher,one might predict less dental caries.However,a possible lower salivary pH and buffering power,and the fact that there is a shift of the bavterial population towards lactobacillus and the cariogenic streptococci in smokers,might all argue for increased dental caries.

    There are three recent surveys which link tobacco smoking with dental caries,one of different age atrata and one of older subjects which identified tobacco smoking as a significant risk factor for tooth loss and dental caries,and one of teenagers which found all caries epidemiological data to be higher among tobacco users.However,the latter paper points out th danger of assuming that correlations necessarily imply a causative role.

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