Investigating the relationship between exposure to cigarette smoke anddental caries: A review article

Environmental smoke, which is also called secondhand smoke, is the smoke that non-smokersinhale due to being exposed to smoke from other people"s tobacco use, which is caused by usingcigarettes, pipes, and hookahs. This smoke, which is a combination of the smoke exhaled by thesmoker and the smoke released from the lit end of the cigarette, is also known as passive smoking.Environmental smoke is a special public health concern, especially for children. In addition toaffecting the physiology of children who are exposed to it, environmental smoke also has adverseeffects on their general and oral health. This study aims to investigate the relationship betweenpeople"s exposure to environmental smoke and dental caries, as well as the factors that strengthenthis relationship. PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Science direct, SID and CIVILICA databaseswere used to extract articles published from ۲۰۱۲ to ۲۰۲۲ in this field. Passive smoking is moreprevalent than active smoking; hence, SHS is a major concern affecting community health.Globally, SHS exposure is estimated to be ۴۰% in children, ۳۳% in nonsmoking men, and ۳۵% innonsmoking women. One study reported that ۴۴.۱% of young adolescents from ۱۳۱ countries wereexposed to SHS at home and ۵۴.۲% of them in public places. A study of ۱۲-to-۱۵-year-olds in ۶۸low- and middle-income nations found that the overall prevalence of SHS was ۵۵.۹%. Thecountries in which children have the maximum exposure to SHS are China, India, Indonesia,Bangladesh, and the Philippines. Research shows that there is an independent association betweenSHS exposure and dental caries, especially in primary teeth. However, the association betweenSHS exposure and dental caries in permanent teeth must be explored further through well-designedstudies because statistically significant evidence is lacking.

Keywords:

Environmental Smoke , Dental Caries , Streptococcus Mutans , Tobacco