Smoking & periodontitis

04.01.2022

PD Dr. Kristina Bertl, PhD MSc MBA

Smoking and periodontitis – how bad is it really?

The risk of periodontitis occurring and progressing in smokers is much higher than it is in non-smokers. Moreover, the effect of smoking is cumulative – this means that ‘the more you smoke, the more periodontitis you get.’
Although smokers often have a severe degree of disease, their signs of inflammation are usually less pronounced. This means, for example, that smokers often have lower bleeding indices than non-smokers with a similarly severe level of periodontal disease.
Although the primary causes of periodontitis are bacterial infection and the body’s immune response to that infection, smoking nonetheless constitutes one of the most important avoidable risk factors.
Smoking substantially reduces the ability of the periodontium to heal during periodontal treatment – it is thought that the healing capacity of a 50-year-old smoker’s periodontium roughly corresponds to that of an 86-year-old non-smoker’s periodontium – that is a difference of 36 years!
Successful smoking cessation reduces the risk of periodontitis occurring and progressing and improves the patient’s treatment response – but probably only around 10 years after they stop smoking.

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