Smoking Status and Smoke-Related Gingival Melanin Pigmentation in Army Recruitments

Abstract

This study aimed to define the smoking status and smoke-related gingival melanin pigmentation in army recruitments and was conducted with army recruitments in Sivas. Nine hundred eight subjects were examined. The oral and dental health of those subjects was checked and recorded. The smoking status of the subjects was self-reported and recorded on questionnaires by researchers. The chi2 test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used for statistical analysis. More than one-half of the subjects (54.3%) were primary school graduates and the mean age was 20.2 +/- 0.95 years. The response rate regarding smoking was 100%. Of the respondents, 596 (65.7%) were current smokers, 12 (1.3%) were former smokers, and 300 (33.0%) were never smokers. The gingival melanin pigmentation rate was 27.5% in current smokers and 8.6% in those who never smoked (p = 0.000). Smoking five to nine cigarettes a day appeared to be sufficient to cause gingival melanin pigmentation. The proportion of smokers who had melanin pigmentation did not change after 10 cigarettes a day. A rehabilitation project on smoking prevention and smoking cessation for army recruitments is urgently needed.

Gingival Pigmentation Affected by Smoking among Different Age Groups: A Quantitative Analysis of Gingival Pigmentation Using Clinical Oral Photographs

“…Second, information on the smoking amount was limited, and we were unable to determine the smoking index because subjects were unclear about the number of cigarettes smoked per day. However, there have been reports that gingival pigmentation has no relationship with the number of cigarettes smoked per day [ 26 ]. We therefore feel that this limitation does not deny our outcome.…”

Melanosis gingival, una revisión de los criterios para el diagnóstico y tratamiento

“…According to Marakoğlu (21) , smoking 5-9 cigarettes a day is enough for a melanocytic stain to appear. Hanioka (22) even found gingival melanosis in smokers' children, meaning that passive smokers have a predisposition to develop this kind of pigmentations.…”