People who regularly smoke cigarettes have an increased risk of losing their teeth, according to a recent study.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham and the German Institute of Human Nutrition found that male smokers are up to 3.6 times more likely to lose their teeth than those who abstained from smoking, whereas female smokers were found to be 2.5 times more likely, Fox News reported.

"Most teeth are lost as a result of either caries (tooth decay) or chronic periodontitis (gum disease). We know that smoking is a strong risk factor for periodontitis, so that may go a long way towards explaining the higher rate of tooth loss in smokers," Professor Thomas Dietrich, lead author of the study, said in a statement.

Smoking can mask gum bleeding, a key symptom of periodontitis. As a result, the gums of a smoker can appear to be healthier than they actually are.

"It's really unfortunate that smoking can hide the effects of gum disease as people often don't see the problem until it is quite far down the line. The good news is that quitting smoking can reduce the risk fairly quickly. Eventually, an ex-smoker would have the same risk for tooth loss as someone who had never smoked, although this can take more than ten years," said Dietrich from the University of Birmingham.

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from more than 23,000 participants recruited for the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition between 1994 and 1998, UPI reported.

Researchers found that the association between smoking and tooth loss was stronger among younger people than in the older groups. In addition, the results clearly demonstrated that the association was dose-dependent; heavy smokers had higher risk of losing their teeth than smokers who smoked fewer cigarettes.

"In addition to the many noted benefits for cardiovascular health, and risk of lung disease and cancer, it is clear that dental health is yet another reason not to take up smoking, or to quit smoking now," Professor Heiner Boeing of the German Institute of Human Nutrition, said in a statement.

The findings are detailed in the Journal of Dental Research.