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As more and more medical knowledge is acquired about smoking tobacco, the habit is becoming less and less popular. This is not surprising, as cigarettes cause unsightly skin and nails, not to mention respiratory diseases like emphysema, and ultimately, a slow and prolonged death through some form of cancer or other. In light of all of these horrible ailments that smoking can do to you, it is no surprise that the negative dental effects of smoking are usually delegated as secondary, or not focused on at all.
Taking Action
Dentists in the UK have already launched a campaign to educate the public about the danger cigarettes represent to your teeth. The movement was called “Stoptober”, and the dentists urged smokers to stop smoking for a month, the month of October 2012. The results were staggering, many people played along, and the result was a larger increase in people quitting. This article explains about the campaign in more detail.
The root of the problem
Having dryness of the mouth is a medical condition. It automatically places you in the at risk of dental problems category, and dentists are well aware of this. If the mouth cannot lubricate, than it cannot perform the healing and self-rejuvenating functions at a sufficient level. Smoking causes dryness of the mouth, and thus will put users at risk. The other problem is that nicotine, the active and extremely addictive ingredient in cigarettes causes less blood to flow to the gums and the periodontal tissues, and this causes them to function at a decelerated level. This means the periodontal tissue can shrivel up, which can become gum loss, which exposes already dry and strained teeth to more open air. The gums also react slower and with less intensity to the bacteria living in the teeth, so that they can do more damage in the oral cavity. This causes an increase in gum disease in smokers, which leads to more health problems in general. Aside from this, weakened gums mean more movement and eventually, more loss of teeth.
The only Solution
The only solution to fight the effects of smoking is to quit smoking tobacco at once. No other solution will keep your teeth intact, and even after you quit, the damage you have already done to your mouth will take years to reverse, even if you are a light to moderate smoker. With someone who is a heavy smoker, the damage may already be done.
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