Why Smoking is Harmful for your Teeth
In addition to damaging your hearts and lungs, smoking can also severely impact your dental health. Dental hygiene is a major issue when it comes to maintaining good dental health. Studies show that smokers are six times more prone to gum diseases than compared to those who don’t smoke. Every year more than a million people fall prey to smoking and of them, one-third will die due to tobacco related diseases. The deadly epidemic is said to kill more than 400,000 American every year. Smokers will also have shell out more on a dental insurance than non-smokers.
Besides damaging your teeth, smoking also makes it almost impossible to recover from any gum related diseases and the overall dental hygiene will deteriorate. The most obvious ill effect of smoking on teeth is the yellowish brown stains caused by the tar. Usually the saliva helps to maintain a balanced pH inside the mouth.
This helps in correcting in the damage done by the plaque to be negated. Smoking lessens the effectiveness of this process and smokers are also more likely to suffer from calculus. It is a condition which occurs when the plaque hardens on the teeth surface. Calculus plays the role of tooth decay initiator. Tobacco limits the amount of blood flowing into the gum tissue and this has a detrimental effect on the bone structures in the mouth.
It is also known to cause inflammation of the gums and as a result the gums will start pulling away from the tooth. Ultimately the tooth falls out and even if it does not, it will have to pulled out due to infections and severe pain. Smoking causes 75% of all oral cancers and type of tobacco the individual smokes will dictate where the cancer is likely to take root. Poor dental hygiene adds more woes on to a smoker’s already leaky dental care regime.
Even smokeless tobacco users are not spared. They are likely to suffer from early-onset of periodontis which puts them at an increased risk of oral cancer. Studies show that men who smoke lose three teeth every ten years and one and half tooth in case of women. Smokers suffer from a plethora of dental health problems; moreover, they are also difficult to treat for their dental worries.
Smoking is very much discouraged by dentists and most of them will abstain from working on a patient who is not willing to give up smoking prior to few weeks before the procedure and also quits completely after. Smokers are at a higher risk of developing dry sockets after the surgery and they also take a longer time to recover from a surgery. A dentist would first check the dental hygiene and only then will he proceed.
This is the reason why dental implants are not advised for smokers, as smoking causes continuous damage, even after the implants are placed. However, the good news is that if a smoker gives up the butt, there is a dramatic improvement in the health condition of the gums, usually within a year. Dental health is something all smokers have to give prime importance as they are especially at risk to developing various dental related health conditions.
The damage which has been already done cannot be reversed, but once a person stops inhaling the smoke, their teeth gains strength and can hold up to a longer time period. There are specific treatments which are aimed at repairing tobacco wrecked teeth and also to prevent any future damages.
