Smokers alerted to dental dangers Smokers alerted to dental dangers
This article and the previous one point to the issue of the many factors which may affect a particular outcome, in this case problems with teeth. The claim for smokers is
Pr (tooth loss | smoke >= 15 cigarettes a day) = 3 Pr (tooth loss | non smoker)
and
Pr (tooth loss | young smoker >= 15 cigarettes a day) = 4.5 Pr (tooth loss | young non smoker).
[Here Pr (A | B) is the probability of event A occurring given the occurrence of event B.]
Notice also the later mention of increased risk of other health problems of the mouth.
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Index - Chance and Basic Probability