Smoking habit and oral health in teenagers. Polytechnic School Israel Moliner Rendón

Abstract

Introduction: the smoking habit is associated to several diseases, and among them to the oral ones. Currently it is estimated that this harmful habit has a more and more precocious beginning among Cuban teenagers.
Objetive: to characterize smoking behavior and its repercussion on the oral health of teenagers from the Polytechnic School “Israel Moliner Rendón”, municipality of Limonar in 2015.
Materials and Methods: a descriptive, observational study was carried out in a universe formed by 120 teenagers from the Polytechnic School “Israel Moliner Rendón”. The studied variables were sex, smoking habit existence, time spend smoking, smoking motivations, oral diseases presented by smokers, level of knowledge on the repercussion of smoking on oral health. For gathering the information a document was prepared collecting general data and data related with the smoking habit, the oral examination was performed and a questionnaire about the repercussion of smoking on oral health was filled out.
Results: 41,1 % of the teenagers practiced the smoking habit, and 45,8 % were female. Almost half of them smoked for less than a year. Halitosis (77,3 %) and nicotine strains (64,1 %) were the predominant oral affections. 75,2 % of the sample showed low level of knowledge about the repercussion of the smoking habit on oral health.
Conclusions: the habit prevailed among females. The adolescent surrounding had an important influence. With few time of practicing smoking, there were found oral associated affections. Teenagers did not know the repercussion this habit has on oral health.