Smoking shown to leave irreversible traces in teeth, UK study reveals
Smoking doesn’t just harm your lungs and heart—it leaves a lasting imprint on your teeth, too. A new study published in the journal PLOS ONE has revealed, for the first time, that tobacco use causes permanent damage to the internal structure of teeth, even after a person quits smoking.
The research, conducted by scientists at Northumbria University in the UK, focused on the cementum—a calcified layer that covers the tooth root and forms annual rings, similar to tree rings. These cementum rings can record physiological changes and stressors, allowing researchers to analyze health history encoded in dental tissue.
Key finding: smoking disrupts cementum growth rings
While the original goal of the study was to evaluate whether cementum rings could help estimate age in forensic cases where DNA is unavailable, researchers instead made a striking discovery:
- Smokers and ex-smokers had irregularities in the cementum rings of their teeth—
non-smokers did not. - These disruptions appeared as inconsistent patterns and variations in thickness of the cementum rings.
“Smoking is known to have a systemic impact on the body... this study shows, for the first time, the biological record of smoking-related oral health damage within the dental structure,” said Dr. Valentina Perrone, research assistant at the University of Leicester.
Statistical snapshot:
- 70% of former smokers and 33% of current smokers showed damage
- Compared to just 3% of non-smokers
- A total of 88 teeth were examined
- Samples came from both living patients and archaeological remains
Same smoking signs seen in 18th–19th century remains
To test the long-term validity of their findings, researchers also analyzed archaeological teeth samples from the 1700s and 1800s, belonging to individuals identified as smokers. Remarkably, these historical samples showed the same cementum ring disruptions found in today’s smokers—confirming that the damage is durable and detectable centuries later.
This discovery opens new possibilities for forensic dentistry, historical health analysis, and underscores the deep-rooted biological impact of smoking—even in individuals who have quit.
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