Despite the negative impact of cigarette smoking on oral health and teeth appearance, there is no data available on dental shade changes in smokers who quit smoking. Dental discoloration caused by smoking may be permanent, with minimal restoration after stopping smoking. If this is valid, former smokers can show dental shade values equivalent to those of current smokers.
The aim of this study is to compare the dental shade assessment by digital spectrophotometry (VITA Easyshade V) in current, former and never smokers and to verify the short (7 days) and long-term (30 days) repeatability of these measurements.
Confirmation of good reproducibility of VITA Easyshade V with clear objective discrimination of dental shade measurements among current, former, and never smokers will improve the power of this measurement giving more confidence in clinical research findings of dental shades in these populations.
It is also anticipated that results from the study will expand the application of this measurements to include medical and regulatory research applied to combustion-free tobacco products (e.g. e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, oral tobacco/nicotine products, etc.), smoking cessation medications, and to consumer care product for oral hygiene and dental aesthetics.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Clinical Trial
The study was not registered in ClinicalTrials.gov considering that is a pilot study, parts of a larger project with ID: NCT04649645
Funding Statement
This investigator initiated research is supported by a grant from the Foundation for a Smoke free World (FSFW)
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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:
Comitato Etico Catania 2 n. 73/2020/CECT2
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