14 DAY TRIAL // You may feel high, you may feel sexier, but how does this come when you may be losing your teeth? A new research published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" has connected heavy smoking of cannabis in young people to a higher risk for periodontal disease.
After taking into account tobacco smoking, gender, socioeconomic status and infrequent trips to the dentist by 35% of the subjects, the authors concluded that a "strong association between cannabis use and periodontitis experience by age 32" occurred.
Subjects with the highest rate of cannabis smoking were 1.6 times more likely to display at least one gum site with mild periodontosis, compared to subjects who had never smoked cannabis. The risk of the cannabis smokers to present at least one site with severe gum disease was over 3 times higher than for the subjects who had never smoked cannabis.
Heavy cannabis consume was considered an average use of the drug for 41 or more occasions annually, between the age of 18 and 32 (about one time per week). But even those who had smoked less cannabis were more likely to have developed mild and severe gum disease, than those who had never smoked cannabis.
"In the United States, we think about periodontal disease as being a problem after the age of 35. These findings, that almost 30% of individuals at age 32 had periodontal disease, indicate that this younger group may need more attention," said Dr. James D. Beck, Kenan professor of dental ecology at the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry.
The 903 subjects were born at Queen Mary Hospital, in Dunedin (New Zealand), between 1972 and 1973. They received dental examinations at ages 26 and 32, and questionnaires assessed their cannabis and tobacco consume between the ages 18 to 21, 21 to 26, and 26 to 32.