Oral Hygiene Status and Periodontal Treatment Needs of Nigerian Male Smokers

AIM: This study was to describe the oral hygiene and periodontal status of Nigerian smokers through a cross sectional survey carried out among factory workers in Lagos state using a purposive sampling method. METHOD: Subjects in this study comprised of two hundred and fifty four adult factory workers aged 19 to 74 years consisting of 184 males and 70 females. Only about 33% of examined males were smokers while all the females examined were non-smokers. Females were therefore excluded from the analyses which focused on smokers. 10 cigarettes was arbitrarily chosen as the bar line between light and heavy smoking for the purpose of comparison. Oral Hygiene Index (OHI) and Community Periodontal Index (CPI) were utilized in this study. RESULTS: Smokers in the study were found to have significantly poorer oral hygiene (p<0.001), less number of healthy sextants (p<0.001), more calculus deposits (p<0.001) and more periodontal pocketing (p=0.036) than non-smokers. Ninety percent of the smokers seen in this study were light smokers and 61 % had smoked for less than 5 years. CONCLUSION: Smokers in this study therefore had poorer oral hygiene, less healthy periodontium, more calculus, and more periodontal pocketing than non-smokers. [TAF Prev Med Bull 2010; 9(2): 107-112]