Near-patient test for nicotine and its metabolites in saliva to assess smoking habit.
Smoking is a major risk factor for periodontal disease, causing bone and tooth loss. Effective management of many oral conditions requires accurate information about smoking. We describe a disposable, 10-min, near-patient saliva test to monitor cigarette smoking. A plastic device contains the dried reagents to measure nicotine and its metabolites by a colorimetric assay. The device can be used to give a semi-quantitative assessment of tobacco consumption by observing a colour change and comparing it to a reference chart. Alternatively, the test can be quantified by measuring the light absorbance with a colorimeter and determining the concentration of nicotine metabolites by reference to a cotinine standard. This method correlates with reported daily cigarette consumption (r=0.62, P<0.0001) and nicotine yield of cigarettes smoked (r=0.35, P<0.01) and compares favourably with cotinine, as measured independently by radioimmunoassay (r=0.57, P<0.005). The method provides a simple-to-use, inexpensive way of monitoring tobacco consumption in dental surgeries.
Cope
G
G
Wolfson Applied Technology Laboratory, School of Dentistry, The University of Birmingham, UK. GFC@wcl.bham.ac.uk
Nayyar
P
P
Holder
R
R
Brock
G
G
Chapple
I
I
D000328:Adult; D003124:Colorimetry; D003367:Cotinine / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009538:Nicotine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems / Q000191:economics; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012907:Smoking; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods; D013223:Statistics as Topic
D009538:Nicotine; D003367:Cotinine