Feb. 14 (iVillage Total Health) -- Smokers who get dental implants are more likely than non-smokers to experience failure and harmful deterioration of the dental devices, according to a new study.

A dental implant is an anchor for an artificial tooth or teeth that is surgically placed in the jaw. It becomes fused with the jawbone as the bone heals around it. They are commonly made of titanium, a special type of metal that the body does not reject as a foreign body.

Researchers at the University of Murcia in Spain studied x-rays and clinical examinations of 66 people who received a total of 165 dental implants over a five-year period. Twenty-six patients did not smoke; they received 70 implants. There were 40 smokers who got 95 implants. Smokers were divided into subgroups: light smokers (23 people), moderate smokers (11 people) and heavy smokers (6 people).

The results showed that the heaviest smokers, who smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day, had nearly a one in three chance of implant failure. Overall, smokers in the study had 15.8 percent implant failure rates while non-smokers had only 1.4 percent implant failures.

The reason: smoking impairs the ability of the bones and tissue to fuse to the implant, increases the risk of infection following the oral surgery and slows the healing process. In addition, studies have shown that smoking decreases blood flow to bones and tissue in the gums and teeth, which adversely affects healing.

Researchers said periodontologists and dentists should take these findings into consideration when determining candidates for dental implants.

"The research shows that if you want your dental implant to last, you should not smoke," Dr. Preston D. Miller, president of the American Academy of Periodontology, said in a press release. "Also, the treating the dentists should make sure their patients are aware of this before placing an implant, and emphasize the importance of quitting smoking ."

The study was published in the February issue of the Journal of Periodontology.

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