title: The Effects of Smoking on the Osmotic Pressure of Human Dental Pulp Tissue.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to investigate the effect of smoking on the osmotic pressure (OP) of human dental pulp tissue.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty male dental patients (smokers and nonsmokers) scheduled for root canal treatment for prosthodontics were included in the study. Fifteen patients (1 premolar tooth/patient) were allocated to each of the following groups according to their smoking habits, i.e. group 1: ≤10 cigarettes/day, group 2: 11-20 cigarettes/day, group 3: >20 cigarettes/day and group 4: nonsmoking controls. Apical pulp tissues were removed via coronal access. Pulp tissue supernatants were obtained to measure the pulpal OP by means of a semimicro digital osmometer. One-way analysis of variance and the post hoc Duncan test were used to analyze the differences in OP between groups. Regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between the number of cigarettes smoked daily and the pulpal OP.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean (± SD) OP value decreased as cigarette consumption increased: group 4 (268.00 ± 10.09 mosm/kg) > group 1 (259.20 ± 7.16 mosm/kg) > group 2 (248.90 ± 2.23 mosm/kg) > group 3 (239.90 ± 7.40 mosm/kg). The OP differed significantly between groups (p < 0.01), and a significant negative correlation was found between cigarette consumption and pulpal OP (r = -0.809, p < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, the OP decreased as the number of cigarettes smoked increased. In clinical examination, there may be misdiagnosis of pulpal conditions in smokers (even in healthy pulp tissue) due to the effect of altered OP on pulpal tissue reactions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endodontics, Faculty of Science, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ebru
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Özsezer Demiryürek
authors.forename: Elif Eser
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Sakallıoğlu
authors.forename: Elif
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kalyoncuoğlu
authors.forename: Yeliz
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yılmaz Miroğlu
authors.forename: Umur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Sakallıoğlu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003782:Dental Pulp / Q000187:drug effects*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009997:Osmotic Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*