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Smokers children likely to develop caries

by Medindia Content Team on Mar 30 2002 3:33 PM

Children whose parents smoke are more prone to develop dental caries, according to a study from the University of Rochester's Strong Children's Research Center."This study should serve as a pragmatic wake-up call to parents who still don't see the danger in smoking around their children," said pediatrician Andrew Aligne, M.D.,

3,873 children participated in the survey. The children in the study had dental examinations and a blood test measuring their levels of cotinine, a quantitative marker of tobacco-smoke exposure that can reveal whether someone is a smoker or is often subjected to passive smoking.

The study found a relationship between exposure to passive smoking exposure and dental caries, with socioeconomic status also playing a role. In particular, young children who are poor were shown to be particularly vulnerable to cavities despite the overall decrease in dental caries throughout the rest of the population over the last few decades

Fifty eight percent of the children involved in the study had cavities in deciduous teeth and 28 percent had cavities in permanent teeth. passive was most associated with cavities in deciduous teeth, the researchers found.


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