Damage to teeth from tobacco
With the beginning of a New Year comes the chance for self-improvement. Our team at Eureka Dental Group considered what best advice we could give to improve the lives and oral health of our clients, and we couldn’t pass up the best overall tip for 2015: quitting tobacco.
Everyone understands the long-term risks of tobacco, especially since the labels on packaging include warnings to consumers. Nearly everyone also understands that tobacco use is damaging to your oral health, but few understand why.
The effects of smoking cigarettes, pipe tobacco and using smokeless (chewing) tobacco are similar, and none is safer than another.
Cigarette and pipe tobacco cause essentially the same damage to your mouth. It seems that the smoke impacts the ability of your gum tissue’s cells to function normally. This interference increases the likelihood of periodontal (gum) disease, which is the beginning of a variety of dental issues (and expensive repairs). Blood flow is decreased, which impacts your mouth’s ability to heal itself.
Every smoker understands how smoking decreases the ability to taste foods, and how smoking inevitably stains teeth and tongue. Smokers absorb the aesthetic impact of smoke with a stained smile, as well as the medical impact of gum disease and increased risk for tooth loss. While reducing your number of cigarettes smoked daily can slightly improve the effects, quitting will remove the headwinds causing long-term oral problems and expenses.
Smokeless tobacco is just as damaging to your oral health as cigarettes. Most smokeless tobacco contains granules, such as sand, to assist in the nicotine absorption by scuffing the gums. This not only erodes the tooth’s natural enamel, but also degrades the connective tissue between tooth and gum. Smokeless tobacco use accelerates gum recession, which greatly increases the likelihood of gum disease and tooth loss. Although smokeless tobacco is harder to quit given the high levels of nicotine compared to cigarettes, the healing of your mouth after quitting smokeless tobacco is much faster.
Your team at Eureka Dental wants to make sure your oral and overall health is protected. And we know the best way to achieve both is to consider 2015 the year you break free from the grip of tobacco.
We are here to help. For a detailed explanation of how quitting tobacco can change your oral health, just ask any member of our team.
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