Smoking: What It Does To your Teeth

You know smoking is bad for you. It is a costly habit that affects not only your pocketbook, but your health as well. Besides your health, you can add your teeth to the reasons why you should not smoke. Consider the following problems smoking can cause with your oral health:

Smoking promotes a sticky tar deposits on your teeth, which leads to yellow and brown stains on your teeth. While this is not a severe problem, it is not attractive and makes your smile less than dazzling. Many times, these stains cannot be removed, even with a thorough cleaning from your dentist.

Smoking also delays the healing of your gums. This means that your gums are susceptible of developing serious gum disease, which can lead to painful oral lesions, bleeding of the gums and even tooth loss. Gum disease is a problem that is exacerbated by smoking.

Smoking and bad breath go hand in hand. When you smoke, you will have problems with bad breath and halitosis. You can brush, rinse with mouthwash and use mints and gum, but until you stop smoking, the problem will remain.

Smoking leads to a condition called “smokers palate”, which is red inflammation on the roof of the mouth. This can make eating hot foods or drinking hot beverages painful. You might even find that when you smoke, you do not have much taste for foods. The taste of the tobacco masks the natural flavors of food.

Smoking also leads to gum recession, which can lead to serious problems with your teeth. This means that smoking (or even chewing tobacco) can cause the gums to recede along the top of your teeth at the roots. This can expose the root and lead to decay or tooth loss.

Smoking also leads to oral cancer. This is the most serious side effect when it comes to smoking and your oral care. Oral cancer is just as dangerous as any other type of cancer. In fact, over 75 percent of all oral cancer cases in America are associated with cigarette smoking and other tobacco use. Depending on how long you have smoked and how many cigarettes you smoke each day will determine your risk for developing oral cancer.

Because oral cancer is the most serious side effect of tobacco use, you should know the early symptoms and how to detect cancer. If you have swelling, growths or lumps or find red or white patches in your mouth, you should be screened for oral cancer right away. In addition, stay on the look out for bleeding, sores and difficulty swallowing and chewing.

You know how smoking cause problems with your teeth. Now you should know that kicking the smoking and tobacco habit can reverse these problems. In fact, if you stop using tobacco products, in ten years, your risk for developing oral cancer will decrease dramatically. If you are a smoker, consider stopping the habit. In addition, you should always be aware of the problems smoking and tobacco use can cause with your teeth and see your dentist on a regular basis.