A recent study published in the Journal of Oral Implantology compared how well bones heal in smokers and non-smokers when they had dental implants to replace missing teeth at the back of their lower jaw. The study focused on the success of dental implants in the lower jaw over the course of a year.

Researchers from The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University in Xi’an, China inserted dental implants for smokers and non-smokers, restored the dental implants three months later, and then studied both groups for a year to find out whether heavy smoking had any ill effects on the healing process. The researchers were mainly interested in whether the dental implants would integrate with the bone and stay integrated once the implant was in function.

In both groups, implant stability decreased during the first two weeks after the implant surgery. In non-smokers, stability began to improve and the implants began to integrate with the bone after the second week. However, the implants for  heavy smokers saw little change in the second week, and only began to integrate into the lower jaw bone and become more stable after the third week following surgery.

Three months after surgery, heavy smokers’ implants had caught up. and all patients had secure connections between bone and implant. Although all implants were considered successful, several months later the heavy smokers experienced more problems, including greater bone loss around the implants and larger soft-tissue pockets; however, smoking seemed to have little effect on plaque buildup and bleeding near the implants.

The researchers concluded that heavy smoking did not affect the overall success of the implant surgery, but that it did cause the bone around the implants to heal more slowly, although after three months the healing process catches up with that of non-smokers.. Surgeons may need to change their standard implant schedule for patients who smoke heavily, and smokers may need to be aware that their habit could lead to other complications even after the implants are securely in place.