If you have had the urge to quit smoking, but haven’t had the willpower, perhaps a trip to your dentist office will convince you. According to your dentist in East Greenbush, smoking cigarettes, cigars, pipes, yes, even Hookah Pipes, and smokeless tobacco products can cause serious problems for your teeth and gums.
Web MD will tell you that smoking stains your teeth and causes bad breath, but what most people do not know is that smoking and using smokeless tobacco products can also cause gingivitis.
If you smoke or use smokeless tobacco products, you will be susceptible to salivary gland inflammation and a buildup of tartar and plaque. Smoking cigars, pipes, cigarettes and Hookah Pipes also increases your risk of leukoplakia, which results in white patches on the inside of your mouth.
Smoking delays the healing process if you have had a tooth extracted, oral surgery, or periodontal treatment. Your dentist will tell you that smoking and using smokeless tobacco products will also lower your rate of success if you are undergoing Dental Implant procedures.
Smoking and smokeless tobacco products also increase your chance of throat cancer, esophageal cancer and mouth cancer.
Smoking and smokeless tobacco products will lead to gingivitis and periodontal disease as these products will affect the attachment of your gum tissue to the bone. Recent studies have indicated that smokers and people who chew tobacco are impairing the flow of blood to their gums. This affects wound healing and makes smokers and those who use smokeless tobacco products more susceptible to infections.
Pipe and cigar smokers are certainly not off the hook. Although cigar and pipe smokers do not inhale, they are still subject to the same oral health issues as cigarette smokers experiencing the same rate of tooth loss and eventual bone loss.
If you have switched from smoking cigarettes and cigars to chewing tobacco, you are not doing your body or your teeth and gums any favors. Chewing tobacco or snuff will deliver more than 28 chemicals into your body increasing your risk of oral cancer. Most people do not have a clue that just a single snuff contains more nicotine that 60 cigarettes. Smokeless tobacco products will also irritate your gum tissues. If this occurs your gums will recede exposing the roots of your teeth making eating and drinking painful. If that isn’t bad enough, smokeless tobacco producers add sugar to improve the flavor of smokeless tobacco increasing your risk of tooth decay by more than four times.
Kicking the habit is tough, but there is help. Schedule an appointment with your Dentist in East Greenbush, Dr. J. Craig Alexander who will be able to examine your teeth showing you the damage that smoking and smokeless tobacco products have done to your teeth and gums.