Heavy smoking and severe dental caries in Indonesian men

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In Indonesia, the prevalence of dental caries is 85%–99% and 67.4% of males aged 15 years or older are current users of tobacco. The aim of this study was to examine the association between heavy smoking and severe dental caries. METHODS: The authors used secondary data from Basic Health Research 2007. Respondents were Indonesian males aged 45–54 years (n = 34 534). Decay, Missing, Filled Teeth (DMFT) value was used to define severe dental caries with 31.4% of respondents having DMFT value ≥ 8, the cutoff point of severe dental caries in this study. In addition, the enumerators recorded socio-demographic characteristics (age, socio-economic status, education, and job), tooth brushing and smoking behavior of respondents. Chi-square test was used to compare the prevalence of severe dental caries between heavy smokers (defined as Brinkman Index or BI ≥ 400) and never smokers (BI = 0). The multivariable logistic regression model was used to estimate adjusted association between heavy smoking and dental caries severity. RESULTS: The prevalence of severe dental caries among never smokers, light smokers (BI 1–399) and heavy smokers was 24.9%, 32.5%, and 38.7% respectively (p < 0.005). Compared to never smokers, the adjusted ORs of having severe dental caries among light smokers and heavy smokers were 1.45 (95% CI: 1.37–1.53) and 1.70 (95% CI: 1.59–1.81), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Smoking is a risk factor of severe dental caries in Indonesian men with dose-and-response association revealed between the exposure and the outcome. Indonesian dentists, individually and collectively, have to participate in smoking prevention and control more actively.