Secondhand smoke linked to children's cavities

[zakur]

Research: Secondhand smoke may give kids cavities

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- Add time in the dentist's chair to the childhood risks from inhaling secondhand cigarette smoke, researchers said on Tuesday.

Children subjected to environmental cigarette smoke developed higher blood levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine, and those children tended to have more cavities in their deciduous, or primary, teeth.

"Exposure to tobacco smoke nearly doubles a child's risk of having cavities," said study author and pediatrician Andrew Aligne, who led a team of researchers from the University of Rochester, New York, and the Center for Child Health Research.

 

[Plutarck]

...

...bahahahahah!

Still, tooth decay remains the most common chronic childhood disease and Americans spend $4.5 billion yearly on treatment, the report said.

It is nice to know that we in America have so few 'real' problems that tooth decay is the most common "chronic childhood disease".

But I don't think that was the point...


Edited to add:

I would, however, like to hear from those more knowledgable in the subject itself, and who can actually find a more usefully detailed report of the "study" (call me anal, but I don't like using the word "study" to refer to a survey), to share with us their opinions of the issue itself.

 

[QuarkChild]

call me anal, but I don't like using the word "study" to refer to a survey

Would you like to come join the other anal retents in my "Controlled Studies, lack thereof" thread?

We're discussing the same issue.

 

[Plutarck]

Would you like to come join the other anal retents in my "Controlled Studies, lack thereof" thread?

We're discussing the same issue.

I definately will, and I hadn't noticed it. I'll make an attempt at a post as soon as I get the chance; gotta finish my argumentative essay. 4 hours and counting to get it done to meet my desired timeline...

 

[Marvel Frozen]

call me anal, but I don't like using the word "study" to refer to a survey

After reading this link: http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=2363894, I don't think this was just a survey. This is what that link has to say about how the study was done:

In the current study, published in the March 12th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Aligne and his colleagues from the University of Rochester in New York reviewed national data collected between 1988 and 1994 on 3,531 children.

The authors noted whether the children showed signs of tooth decay, and if they had elevated levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine, in their blood.

More than half of the children had levels of cotinine in their bodies that suggested they had been exposed to secondhand smoke. Children with the highest cotinine levels also had twice the risk of cavities in their baby teeth.

This relationship persisted even when the researchers accounted for the influence of family income, the region where the children lived and how often they visited the dentist.

 

[QuarkChild]

Good point.
The researchers seem to have been more careful in this case than in a lot of studies that get cited in news articles.

 

[Salvius]

Is it just me, or does this:

The authors noted whether the children showed signs of tooth decay, and if they had elevated levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine, in their blood.

More than half of the children had levels of cotinine in their bodies that suggested they had been exposed to secondhand smoke. Children with the highest cotinine levels also had twice the risk of cavities in their baby teeth.

...indicate that technically, they haven't linked cavities to secondhand smoke exposure? They've linked cavities to elevated levels of cotinine, and seem to be assuming that elevated cotinine levels are caused by secondhand smoke.

This may well be a reasonable assumption, but then I'd expect it to be more strongly worded than saying the cotinine levels "suggested" they'd been exposed to smoke.

 

[garys_2k]

Is it just me, or does this:

...indicate that technically, they haven't linked cavities to secondhand smoke exposure? They've linked cavities to elevated levels of cotinine, and seem to be assuming that elevated cotinine levels are caused by secondhand smoke.

This may well be a reasonable assumption, but then I'd expect it to be more strongly worded than saying the cotinine levels "suggested" they'd been exposed to smoke.

Sure, kids with more contine have more dental problems, and it's likely that second hand smoke (environmental tobacco smoke, ETS) causes elevated contine levels.

But does ETS cause these dental problems? Maybe, maybe not. There could be cofactors that happen to coincide with families that smoke that also lead to dental problems. What kind of diet do those kids have, for instance (do smokers buy more sweet junk)?

 

[edthedoc]

Association is NOT the same as causation.

A more likely reason is that children who are exposed to cigarette smoke are more likely to be from less affluent households and therefore are more likely to have poor dental hygiene.

In the UK there is clear link between low income families and smoking and low income families and dental caries etc.

This is just a theory but has a certain logic to it.

 

[Weasel]

Have a look at this.

The piece in question is near the bottom. The site is in general well worth a browse.

Weasel