Smoking and its Effects on Your Dental Health

Smoking has a dramatic effect on a person’s overall health. Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet. On average 1 in 6 adults smoke. 17% of men and 16% for women. This means that, in the UK, there are 9.1 million adult smokers. Smoking causes a range of dental health issues. Gum disease and mouth cancer have been rising in more recent years. Here we aim to provide a facts and figures guide to smoking and how it can affect oral health.

Smoking and its effects on dental health   

As we all know, smoking can cause a wide range of problems in all areas of the body. One of the major areas includes your mouth. Constant inhalation of the toxins nicotine and tar can result in a host of problems. Research conducted by Cancer research UK find that 9 out of 10 cases of mouth cancer are down to poor lifestyle choices such as smoking. Reading this you may wonder what causes such a vast number of people to take up smoking or why people find it so difficult to stop? The key drug in cigarettes, nicotine, is highly addictive. In fact, it can be as addictive as cocaine. This means that giving it up is easier said than done. So, why bother in the first place? One misconception about smoking is that it only takes one cigarette to get addicted. Opening yourself to smoking is the first step to becoming addicted. You tend to find that people who are open to a “social smoke” or the idea of smoking end up getting trapped, however it also seems that many smokers are starting from a young age and have one or more close family members that smoke.

 

Damage caused by smoking    

Smoking has a dramatic effect on your dental health, you may notice that smokers tend to have yellow or rotted teeth. This is not down to the fact that they do not do a good job of cleaning, but brushing alone is simply not enough to remove these stains. Teeth whitening could be the only way to return teeth back to their natural state. Tobacco, over time, leaves a yellow stain on your teeth which is extremely difficult to remove once it’s there. This is not the only issue that affects the smoking population. Rotting teeth, mouth cancer and gum disease are all common issues for smokers. One major issue that we come across at MSC is tooth loss, many people end up needing dental implants to fix these problem.

What can you do about it

There are many options open to smokers to help them avoid the problems of smoking. These include: nicotine gum, nicotine spray, nicotine patches and e-cigarettes or vape pens. Several of these options are not highly successful. It is not simply nicotine that needs to be suppressed, but the actions that come along with it. If you are to ask someone who has smoked at some point in their life, they may tell you that the action of moving their arm, having something between their fingers and the taste/feel also play a part. In more recent years, vape pens and e-cigarettes have become the most popular way to quit, offering almost everything that comes with smoking without containing as many harmful substances. All of these options offer an exit, however they fail to provide a cost-effective way to do so.

Cold turkey

It is not often that you see many people take this route to quit smoking, but it is quite easily, the most effective and cost efficient path. The simple fact is, that if you have the determination to fight the addiction for the respective time, you will quit. It also ensures that you won’t become dependent on any other form of quitting. We understand that this may not be true for everyone and would not discourage anyone form using other methods, however figures suggest that you are much more likely to quit due to the fact you shorten your withdrawal period.

To find out more information about smoking and its affects to your dental health. Head to the Midlands Smile Centres website where you will find the mouth cancer figure page.