Postmenopausal Women at Higher Risk for Losing Teeth due to Periodontal Disease

Postmenopausal women who smoke are at a higher risk for losing their teeth than women who don't or never have, according to a new study published and featured on the cover of the Journal of the American Dental Association by researchers at the University at Buffalo.

The study involved 1,106 women who participated in the Buffalo OsteoPerio Study, an offshoot of the Women's Health Initiative, (WHI), the largest clinical trial and observational study ever taken in the U.S. involving more than 162,000 women across the nation, including 4,000 in Buffalo.

The study is the first to examine comprehensive smoking histories for participants that allowed the researchers to unravel some of the causes behind tooth loss in postmenopausal women who smoked.

As smoking has long been associated with tooth loss, it is interesting to note that postmenopausal women experience more tooth loss than their male counterparts.

"Regardless of having better oral health practices, such as brushing and flossing, and visiting the dentist more frequently, postmenopausal women in general tend to experience more tooth loss than men of the same age," said Xiaodan (pronounced Shee-ao-dan) Mai, a doctoral student in epidemiology in the UB Department of Social and Preventive Medicine in the School of Public Health and Health Professions. "We were interested in smoking as a variable that might be important."

The study showed that heavy smokers-defined as those who had at least a pack a day for 26 years were nearly twice as likely to report having experienced tooth loss overall and more than six times as likely to experience tooth loss overall and more than six times as likely to have experienced tooth loss due to periodontal disease, compared to those who had never smoked.

Participants provided information to researchers using a detailed questionnaire covering smoking history, and in some cases, dental records were also submitted.

"We found that heavy smokers had significantly higher odds of experiencing tooth loss due to periodontal disease than those who never smoked," explains Mai. "We also found that the more women smoked, the more likely they experienced tooth loss as a result of periodontal disease." 

In conclusion, just don't smoke.