Smoking is one of the main risk factors of periodontitis and its harmful effects on periodontal health are now well known. Thanks to worldwide restrictions, the use of traditional cigarettes is declining, but new alternative tobacco products such as heated tobacco products (e.g. IQOS, glo) have appeared on the market. These devices are often perceived less harmful by consumers, but there are conflicting results in the literature regarding their health effects.
Only one study has assessed periodontal health in heated tobacco product users, but in this study all participants were former smokers. No studies have evaluated periodontal health in heated tobacco users without a history of smoking traditional cigarettes on a regular basis.
Therefore, the aim of the present cross-sectional observational study is to compare the clinical and radiographic periodontal status and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) volume among cigarette-smokers, heated-tobacco product users and non-smokers.
The null hypothesis is that different tobacco product users have worse clinical and radiological periodontal parameters and higher GCF volume than non-smokers.
The study will be performed at the Department of Prosthodontics at Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary. Patients will be enrolled from the patient material of the Department of Prosthodontics.