The dangers of secondhand smoke are well-documented, but Dr. C. Andrew Aligne has some new research data for smokers to sink their teeth into.

"In young children who are exposed to smoking at home, as compared to children who aren't, they have almost a doubling of their risk of cavities in their baby teeth," said Aligne, a pediatrician at the University of Rochester in New York whose findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Aligne and three other researchers published their findings of a link between environmental tobacco smoke and the risk of cavities in children in a seven-page JAMA report in March. The study examined the relationship between serum cotinine levels, a measurement found in blood that indicates how much nicotine one has been exposed to, and decayed unfilled or filled teeth. The study, the first of its kind in the United States, analyzed data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988-94). The 3,873 children ages 4 to 11 studied had both dental examinations and a serum cotinine level measurement. The study found an elevated cotinine level was significantly associated with both decayed and filled tooth surfaces in baby teeth, but not in permanent teeth. Twenty-seven percent of the children who had cavities in their baby teeth could be cavity-free if environmental tobacco smoke exposure were eliminated, according to the research funded in part by the New York State Department of Health.

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