Characteristics Affecting Oral Pigmentation in Passive Smoker Children

Smoking affects not only smokers themselves, but also the people around them. 700 million children are exposed to second hand tobacco worldwide. One of the adverse effects of being a passive smoker is oral pigmentation.

Evaluating association between being a passive smoker and oral pigmentation.

This is a historical cohort. 140 healthy children aged from 4 to 10 with the mean age of 6.68±1.60 years old (70 with a smoker parent and 70 without smoker parents) were examined for oral pigmentation. Environmental factors were evaluated by asking the parents to fill a questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, Logistic regression and Spearman scale.

There was a meaningful relationship between having a smoker parent and oral pigmentation (P-value=0.0001). spearman correlation showed parents' duration of cigarette smoking and the number of cigarettes per day meaningfully affect the severity of oral pigmentation (R=0.329). The study did not find a statistical relationship between oral pigmentation in passive smoking and sex or house area.

Children exposed to secondhand tobacco are at more risk for oral pigmentation. Its severity depends on duration of cigarette smoking and the number of cigarettes per day.