Hábitos tabágicos e saúde oral

Abstract

Nowadays smoking is a major public health issue and diseases that the habit originates are responsible for a high mortality worldwide. This study is an analysis of 414 individuals who visited the University Clinic of the Portuguese Catholic University of Viseu. The study consists in an retrospective observational epidemiological study that compares various aspects such as oral hygiene, plaque index, the number of decayed teeth and the gingival/periodontal status between smokers and non-smokers. There was a higher percentage of smokers from 26 to 35 years old and we verified that smokers brush their teeth more often than nonsmokers. The reasons for the dental appointments were “regularly scheduled appointments” (23,2%), followed by teeth cleaning (scaling) (22%) and the percentage of smokers analyzed corresponds to 22.5% of the collected sample. We concluded that there was no statistically significant differences of the oral health between smokers and non-smokers, as we concluded that smoking individuals can have better oral hygiene because of the negative consequences caused in smoking habits.

Date of Award	15 Oct 2011
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Jorge Leitão (Supervisor) & Nélio Jorge Veiga (Co-Supervisor)