Does Cannabis Use Affect Your Oral Health?

Tobacco smoking is recognized as a behavioral risk factor for periodontal disease and cannabis smoking may contribute in a comparable way.  I say "may" as there are very few studies on how cannabis smoking affects your oral health.  Of the studies that I have found, they are all done outside of the U.S.

Smoking marijuana may cause periodontal disease.

At the Department of Oral Sciences, Sir John Walsh Research Institute, School of Dentistry in New Zealand, there were three cannabis exposure groups out of 903 individuals.  293 individuals, or 32.3% had no exposure to cannabis, 428 individuals or 47.4% had some exposure to cannabis and 182 individuals or 20.2% had high exposure to cannabis.  It does appear that the high exposure to cannabis group had 23.6% periodontal disease, where the low cannabis exposure group had 6.5% periodontal disease and the moderate cannabis exposure group had 11.2% periodontal disease. The conclusion was cannabis smoking may be a risk factor for periodontal disease that is independent of the use of tobacco.

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Together the Department of Periodontology at Bhojia Dental College, the Department of Periodontics and Community Dentistry at Aligarh Muslim University, and the Department of Orthodontics and Dental Anatomy at Aligarh Muslim University published a paper indicating that Cannabis smoke acts as a carcinogen and can cause premalignant lesions in the oral mucosa with oral side effects are xerostomia and leukodema.  Xerostomia is a dry mouth and leukodema is a diffuse, gray-white, milky opalescent appearance of the mucosa which usually occurs bilaterally on the inside of the cheeks and is a very common harmless condition.

Pot does not cause periodontal disease

 

Looks like there is a bit of  conflicting information in the medical studies.   Denmark has a different viewpoint from New Zealand.  According to the Department of Periodontology, School of Dentistry at the University of Aarhus in  Denmark, a study they did among Chilean high school students from the Province of Santiago indicated that there was no evidence to suggest that the use of cannabis is positively associated with periodontal diseases in this adolescent population.


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