COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ORAL NORMAL FLORA OF TOBACCO USERS AND NON-TOBACCO USERS

Abstract

Tobacco smoking is an important environmental factor that has a negative impact on the oral micro flora. Tobacco users have a higher number of pathogenic microorganisms than non-tobacco users. Cigarette smoking, in fact, exposes the oral cavity to a wide range of toxins thus, disrupting the microbial ecology. Tobacco smoke has direct contact with the microbial populations of the oral fluid, which may have an impact on these communities. The imbalance of these microbial flora lead to oral and systemic diseases, including tooth decay, oral cancer, periodontitis and gingivitis. The purpose of this study was to analyze the micro flora in the oral cavity of tobacco users and compare it to the normal flora of non-tobacco users. A total of 30 samples were collected from tobacco users and non-tobacco users in Arbab Yaseen Town, Peshawar. Among them, 15 samples were from tobacco users and 15 were collected from non-tobacco users. The samples collected from tobacco users and non-tobacco users were evaluated for the presence of normal flora. Various morphological and biochemical assays were performed to identify the bacterial isolates. The 5 samples collected from tobacco users were culture negative, while the remaining 10 samples were culture positive. Eleven of the 15 samples collected from non-tobacco users was culture negative and the remaining 4 were culture positive. Staphylococci (5 species) was the most frequently isolated bacteria in both groups, however, tobacco users had a larger proportion than non-tobacco users. Neisseria species, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Streptococcus species were the least frequently isolated