Noushin Jalayer Naderi - Oral and Maxillofacial Dept., Faculty of Dentistry, Shahed University
Mohaddeseh Mehrparvar - Undergraduate student, Faculty of Dentistry, Shahed University,Tehran,Iran

Introduction and Aim: Gingival inflammation in rats has been associated to eosinophil cells count in gingival cervicular fluid. The effect of cigarette smoking on human gingival eosinophilia is unknown.The aim was to determine the impact of cigarette smoking exposure time on gingival eosinophilia.Material and Methods: The study was cross-sectional, case control research. 3μ sections of 22 paraffin embedded block of gingiva from 12 cigarette smokers and 10 nonsmokers were stained with hematoxylin-eosin. The number of eosinophil cells was determined in hot spot areas of 5 high power field at ×400 magnification under optical microscopy. The pack × year’s formula was used to determine the exposure time. The eosinophil cells count was calculated and compared between smokers and non- smokers. The eosinophil cells count was correlated with cigarette smoking exposure time. T-test and Pearson correlation coefficient tests at the level of P ≤ 0.05 were used for statistical analyzing.Results: The mean±SD of eosinophil number were 1.1±1.3 and 3.9 ±2.4 in smokers and non-smokers, respectively. The eosinophil count was significantly higher in non-smokers than smokers (P = 0.003). Eosinophilia was not related to smoking exposure time (P = 0.4).Conclusion: Cigarette smoking reduces eosinophil cells count. The decrease was not related to the rate of smoking. Based on the results, cigarette smoke suppresses

Eosinophil, Gingiva, Oral cavity, Smoking