Adolescents who smoke are more likely to engage in other unhealthful behaviors as well, according to a survey of over 15,000 adolescent orthodontic patients in Southern California.
"Orthodontists are in a perfect position to convey healthy lifestyle messages to adolescents since they tend to see patients in this age group more frequently than do physicians or general dentists," according to study author Joy M. Zakarian, MPH, of the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University, CA. "Orthodontists, therefore, may be able to promote these messages and to decrease risk practices among adolescents who use tobacco."
Zakarian and Melbourne F. Hovell, PhD, MPH, surveyed substance abuse behaviors, such as alcohol and drug use; general health risk behaviors, such as the frequency of aerobic activity and number of hours of sleep; and academic risk behaviors, such as getting poor grades or being suspended.
They also surveyed dental health risk behaviors, such as brushing teeth twice a day and flossing once a day, as recommended by the American Dental Association.
They found that study participants who smoked were more likely to engage in other risky behaviors. Most smokers reported having used marijuana and alcohol; nearly half of the oldest male smokers and 70 percent of the oldest female smokers reported exercising less than three times weekly. A majority of the smokers had received poor grades, and over 40 percent of the male smokers had been suspended from or dropped out of school.
In general, male survey participants reported higher levels of most risk behaviors, although girls were more likely to report insufficient exercise and sleep, according to the study. The study results appear in the current issue of the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.
The only risk behavior that was relatively rare among tobacco-using study participants was infrequent toothbrushing, although a large percentage reported not flossing every day. "The relative absence of this risk behavior might be attributable to teensí efforts to freshen their breath after smoking," said Zakarian.
Future studies should examine the best approaches for the delivery of health messages by orthodontists. "Since orthodontists uniquely see large numbers of adolescents, they could serve as a model health-care clinician population from whom effective risk reduction interventions could be verified experimentally," said Zakarian.
Physicians, general dentists, and others who see adolescents less frequently might adopt approaches once the large population of orthodontists validates such approaches, according to the study.
This research was supported by funds provided by the Cigarette and Tobacco Surtax Fund of the State of California through the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program of the University of California.
Nicotine & Tobacco Research is the official peer-reviewed quarterly journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. For information about the journal, contact Gary E. Swan, PhD, at 650-859-5322.
Posted by the Center for the Advancement of Health http://www.cfah.org . For information about the Center, call Petrina Chong, pchong@cfah.org 202-387-2829.
Journal
Nicotine & Tobacco Research