Cigarette smoking does not increase the risk for early failure of dental implants

A selection of abstracts of clinically relevant papers from other journals. The abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by John R. Radford.

Abstract

To the contrary, there are continuing concerns for smokers who receive dental implants.

Main

Article analysis & evaluation by Tomar SL. J Evid Base Dent Pract 2009; 9: 11–12

At the heart of this paper is a critique of the study published by Sverzut AT, Stabile GA et al. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2008;66:1004–1009 that concluded 'tobacco use cannot be considered a risk for early implant failure'. The commentator argues that in the original paper, apart from possible selection bias of those who received the implants, quantification of cigarette smoking and analysing such data may be problematic. In addition, it may not be valid to use Cox proportional regression modeling. This statistical test assumes the relative risk of someone smoking 40 cigarettes per day when compared with smoking 20 cigarettes per day is the same as someone who smokes 20 cigarettes per day compared with a non-smoker. The author concludes that the 'preponderance of evidence...suggests that smoking cessation would improve the short and long-term prognosis of dental implants'.