Relationship between Cigarette Smoking and Candida Colony Count in Dental Student at Faculty of Dentistry University of Sumatera Utara

Abstract

Abstract-Cigarette smoking can be described as an activity where a person is enjoying the nicotine smoke produced from the burning tobacco. It contains 4800 chemical substances that are harmful to the body such as nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, which then cause changes to the oral cavity. One of the changes is the increase of candida colony count that will lead to abnormal alterations of the oral cavity such as candidiasis. The aim of this study was to find the relationship between cigarette smoking and candida colony count in dental student at Faculty of Dentistry, University of Sumatera Utara using analytic method with cross sectional approach. The study was conducted at Faculty of Dentistry University of Sumatera Utara and Microbiology Laboratory Faculty of Maths and Sciences University of Sumatera Utara on 57 male active smokers. Questionnaire was given to the subjects to gain information about smoking habits and swabs from dorsal of the tongue were examined. The data was statistically analysed using chisquare and p value <0,05 considered as statistically significant. The results showed that subjects were mostly found to be in age group range 17-25 years old. Duration of smoking mostly found was ≥6 years. Number of cigarettes mostly smoked was >10 cigarettes per day. The type of cigarette mostly smoked was filtered-cigarette. Cigarette exposure time mostly found was >15 cigaretteyears. There was a significant relationship between candida colony count and number of cigarettes smoked (p=0,029), but not with duration of smoking (p=0,326). There was also significant relationship between candida colony count and cigarette exposure time (p=0,001), but not with the type of cigarette consumed (p=0,951). The conclusions are both number of cigarettes smoked and cigarette exposure time have significant relationships with candida colony count whereas duration of smoking and type of cigarette did not have significant relationships with candida colony count.