Not just lungs and heart, tobacco can kill your teeth as well

Smoking tobacco and chewing tobacco can put your oral health at immense risk. Find out how smoking hurts your teeth and gums and increases chance of oral cancer.

Sreemoyee Chatterjee | Published: August 19, 2018 4:13 pm

While we all know tobacco consumption is bad for our lungs and heart, what we tend to skip is the adverse impact of tobacco on our teeth, gums and oral health. Not just can it bring a yellow patch on your white, shining teeth but can also affect your gums. It constricts the blood vessels thereby reducing adequate blood flow to your mouth. This turns your mouth into a breeding ground for bacteria. Apart from that, it gives you foul breath, increases the healing time following an oral surgery and also puts you at a higher risk of getting oral cancer. Here’s all about what smoking does to your teeth.

How tobacco affects your teeth?
Not just one, tobacco can damage your teeth health in many ways. Smoking restricts your mouth’s ability to tackle infection, thereby leaving you unarmed against the bacteria produced due to smoking, state experts. This results in loads of problems like discolouration and yellowing of the teeth to losing them and requiring root canals. The grit in tobacco can rub teeth and decay your enamel which is the protective coating safeguarding the sensitive nerves within. Smokeless tobacco or chewing tobacco too can lead to ailing teeth health. When you keep tobacco in your mouth for long, not just to nicotine, your teeth get exposed to sugar that is used as an ingredient in chewing tobacco. Sugar can cause tooth decay along with the damaging impact of nicotine.

Alarming number
These statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the adverse effects of tobacco on teeth health.

16 percent of smokers have poor dental health, four times the rate of people who have never smoked.
Smokers are less likely to have gone to the dentist in the past five years than non-smokers.
More than a third of smokers have at least three dental health issues.
Another study highlighted that female smokers lose 1.5 teeth every 10 years, and male smokers lose 2.9

Watch out the symptoms of tobacco ruining your teeth health
Your teeth are in direct contact with the toxins that you inhale when you take a drag. Obviously, they go through the worst impact of tobacco. You all need to watch out these symptoms to start quick treatment.

Yellowing or browning of the teeth
Bleeding gums
Buildup of calculus (hardened plaque)
Tooth decay
Dry mouth

Image Source: Shutterstock

Published: August 19, 2018 4:13 pm

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