The World Health Organization (WHO) celebrates every May 31 the world day without tobacco, a direct cause of 650,000 deaths each year in the world. According to the Health Survey in the USA carried out in 2017. Although its harmful effects in our body with lung cancer as one of the most harmful consequences, dentistry professionals do not tire of saying that its negative impact begins in the mouth. Here, we present tobacco effects on teeth. Let’s dive into it.
So that you know what it means in your teeth the fact of smoking in Simón Blas we have prepared an infographic. As you will see, smokers not only face more or less aesthetic problems. Keep reading:
Tobacco effects on teeth
A whole battery of easily solvable problems are triggered in their mouths just by abandoning this habit:
Yellow teeth, facial wrinkles and premature aging of the skin. These are some of the most visible external signs that tobacco causes. We remind you of a fact that we have seen on the website of the Spanish Association against Cancer and that seems chilling: “The smoke from the combustion of snuff is composed of about 4,000 different substances, 69 of them highly toxic and carcinogenic” . Can you imagine what these substances can do in contact with your teeth and your skin?
Bad breath. Tobacco is a cause or aggravates the cases of halitosis. It also prevents the mouth from being oxygenated and hydrated properly since smoking alters the mucosa and dries out the entire oral cavity.
Loss of the senses of smell and taste. Surely, if you smoke, you will not have noticed its progressive loss. It is one of its effects. The good news is that as soon as you leave it you will recover both.
PERIODONTITIS AND TOBACCO
Tobacco exerts a vasoconstrictor effect on our gums, hindering the access of the blood supply and, therefore, the supply of oxygen and necessary nutrients. This effect can lead to gingival tissue retract causing periodontitis.
This is one of the causes of smokers presenting a much higher risk of suffering periodontal disease than non-smokers. In addition, the mouth of smokers tends to respond less favorably to periodontal interventions, since tobacco hinders the healing of the gums.
This vasoconstrictor effect of the tobacco causes that our gums do not bleed even when they are inflamed, the reason why it will be more difficult to decide a gingivitis and to avoid that this can derive in a periodontics. Sometimes some patients detect an increase in bleeding during brushing after stopping smoking, this should not be interpreted as a worsening of dental health, but as a symptom of a previous problem.
TOBACCO AND BACTERIAL PLAQUE
Tobacco also affects our mouth by reducing our immune capacity, decreasing our salivary secretion and favoring the appearance of a greater number of bacteria. This causes that our teeth are more prone to the accumulation of tartar and are weaker when it comes to coping with the action of bacteria. Thus, tobacco can increase the chances of suffering from caries and the aggressiveness of these can endodontics.
In turn, they present a decrease in salivary secretion, which leads to a lower neutralizing capacity of the plaque. They also tend to have a greater tendency to consume sugary drinks, eat between meals and eat less fruit, so maintaining optimal oral hygiene is crucial.
Tobacco effects on teeth implants
Tobacco consumption is associated with a greater loss of bone support necessary for dental implants, especially in the area of the upper jaw. This has a negative effect on the success rate of the placement of dental implants that can sometimes be lost or removed due to the failure to integrate them.
THE EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON DENTAL AESTHETICS
Some chemical components of tobacco such as nicotine and tar, which dissolve in saliva, tend to penetrate the inside of the tooth to even the dentine. This is what causes our teeth to be colored with a brownish or even black tone.
This is not the only aesthetic effect since our gums can also adopt a paler shade and even retract, leaving gaps between our teeth and considerably aging our smile.
Increased risk of diseases such as periodontitis and oral cancer. People who smoke have a higher prevalence of caries, periodontitis and oral cancer. In the case of periodontitis, in addition, it may go unnoticed at first sight since there are no bleeding gums. Especially important is also the early diagnosis of oral cancer. In fact, 85% of the cases of deaths from this disease could have been prevented with early care. For all these reasons, do not forget to visit your dentist at least once a year.
We know that stopping tobacco effects on teeth, stop taking tobacco is difficult. We encourage you to ask us how to quit if you smoke. We will help you because we are interested in your health. You might also like: http://linkfeel.com/causes-beauty-treatment-injuries-need-understand/