Association between smoking patterns and self-rated oral health among Korean adults: analysis of the 2020–2024 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Objectives: To investigate investigated the association between smoking patterns and self-rated oral health among Korean adults using data from the 2020–2024 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Methods: Data from 15,979 adults aged ≥19 years were analyzed. The participants were classified as conventional cigarette users, heated tobacco product users, liquid electronic cigarette users, multiple tobacco users, or non-smokers. Rao–Scott chi-squared tests and complex sample logistic regression analyses were performed after adjusting for survey year, sociodemographic characteristics, alcohol consumption, and oral health behaviors. Results: General characteristics, oral health behaviors, and self-rated oral health differed significantly by smoking pattern (p<0.05). In the fully adjusted model, conventional cigarette users (adjusted odds ratio (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.979), heated tobacco product users (aOR, 1.761), liquid electronic cigarette users (aOR, 1.746), and multiple tobacco users (aOR, 2.147) had significantly higher likelihoods of poor self-rated oral health than non smokers (all p<0.001). Conclusions: These findings suggest that oral health promotion and smoking cessation programs should consider smoking patterns, including electronic cigarette and multiple tobacco use, when providing oral health management and cessation support.