Clinical comparison of treatment response patterns following non-surgical periodontal therapy in passive smokers with chronic mild to moderate periodontiti

Cigarette smoking is one of the most significant environmental factors in the initiation and progression of periodontal diseases. Some studies have shown the deleterious effect of smoking and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) on response to periodontal therapy. The aim of this study was to compare the results of non-surgical periodontal treatment between non-smokers and passive smokers with chronic periodontitis. This study included 40 patients with chronic periodontitis, aged 20 to 50. The subjects were divided into two groups based on exposure or lack of exposure to environmental smoke. Both groups were treated with non-surgical periodontal therapy. Four periodontal parameters, including probing depth, clinical attachment level, bleeding on probing, and plaque index, were measured and recorded before treatment and -month and 3-month post-operative intervals. The clinical periodontal parameters were compared at 0.95 level of significance, using ANOVA, paired t-test and independent t-test with SPSS 19. There were statistically significant improvements in all the clinical parameters 1 month and 3 months after non-surgical periodontal treatment compared to preoperative clinical parameter means in both groups (p value < 0.001). Despite improvements in clinical parameters in general, probing depth and clinical attachment level 1 month and 3 months after treatment exhibited significantly higher improvements in non-smokers compared to passive smokers (p value < 0.05). However, 1 and 3 months after treatment bleeding on probing and plaque index scores did not show any significant differences between the two groups (p value = 0.461 and p value = 0.770, respectively). Under the limitations of the present study, ETS adversely affected the results of non-surgical periodontal therapy and the response to treatment in non-smokers was better than that in passive smokers.