characteristics affecting oral pigmentation in passive smoker children

Statement of the problem: smoking affects not only smokers themselves, but also the people around them. 700 million children are exposed to second hand tobacco worldwide. one of the adverse effects of being a passive smoker is oral pigmentation. purpose: this study was conducted to evaluate the association between smoking of a parent at home and oral pigmentation in children, and the characteristic factors affecting that. materials and method: in this retrospective cohort study, 140 healthy children aged 4 to 10 (mean age= 6.68±1.60), 70 with smoker parent and 70 without smoker parents, were examined for oral pigmentation. environmental factors were evaluated by asking the parents to fill a questionnaire. data were analyzed using chi-square test, fisher's exact test, logistic regression, and spearman scale. results: there was a meaningful relationship between having a smoker parent and oral pigmentation (p= 0.0001). spearman’s correlation showed parents' duration of cigarette smoking and the number of cigarettes per day could meaningfully affect the severity of oral pigmentation (r=0.329). the study did not find a statistical relationship between oral pigmentation in passive smoking and gender or house area. conclusion: children exposed to secondhand tobacco are at more risk for oral pigmentation. its severity depends on duration of cigarette smoking and the number of cigarettes per day.