Smoking is an important risk factor for periodontitis. The high prevalence of smokers in any population makes smoking a feasible target for intervention in public health. The magnitude of the associated risk between smoking and periodontitis varies among studies, and this variation is the result of the case definition adopted rather than the limitations of the population studies. A MEDLINE search was used to identify previous publications, and a literature review was developed based on the selected articles. Smoking was consistently identified as a risk factor for periodontitis, but the risk estimates varied between studies. The comparison of risk estimates between studies was affected by the lack of uniformity for case definitions of periodontitis and smoking status.
Smoking; periodontitis; periodontal disease; risk