Smoking and the presence of diabetes are two of the strongest and most well-established risk factors to date for periodontal disease.
About half of all periodontal disease cases are attributed to smoking. A cigarette smoker is four times more likely to have periodontal disease than an individual who has never smoked. Studies, also, indicate that smokers are more likely to have deeper probing depths, greater attachment loss, more bone loss, and fewer teeth.
The “periodontal cost” of smoking has been calculated as 27 years of disease progression. This means that your gum tissue’s age is actually 27 years older than its actual age! Smoking and the presence of diabetes are two of the strongest and most well-established risk factors to date for periodontal disease. To do the math, a 32 year old smoker’s gums are equivalent to a 59 year old’s gums of a non-smoker.
When patients quit smoking, the rate of bone and attachment loss slows, and evidence indicates that disease severity is intermediate to that of current and non-smokers.