There’s no doubt smoking has detrimental effects on smokers’ lives. However, one of the significant aspects of the body that is most affected by tobacco smoking is the mouth. One of the common causes of lung cancer is smoking. 

However, very few people understand that the same smoking of tobacco can also lead to mouth cancer and other oral-related ailments. So always have it in mind that when you smoke tobacco, not only your body is at risk of various diseases, your overall oral health is also at risk. It is why in this article, we’ll be looking at some of the dangers of tobacco and how it can affect your oral health. 

5 Effects Of Tobacco On Your Teeth

There are lots of issues and ailments your oral health can sustain from the smoking of tobacco. It is vital to learn the effects of tobacco on your teeth to avoid smoking as a non-smoker or work towards quitting smoking as a smoker. Here are the top 5 effects of tobacco on your teeth:

1. Tobacco Eats Away at Your Gums

Smoking can cause lots of damage to the mouth. One of these damages is the deterioration of the gums, says the best dentist in Vienna. When you smoke tobacco regularly, there’s every possibility that it could lead to a severe oral issue. This unfortunate habit creates a form of bacterial plaque in the mouth. The plaque residue left in the mouth from smoking could lead to a gum disease that abrades your gum line.

The reason being is that the smoke emitted from tobacco has a way of reducing the oxygen level in the blood. Once the gums are attacked from this disease, the healing rate is prolonged because the bloodstream doesn’t have adequate oxygen to help with the healing process. Due to the smoking of tobacco, the dental plaque increases and causes more damage to the gum. 

2. Tooth Decay

In most cases, eating out of the gum in the mouth leads to various kinds of gum diseases. In the process of these diseases eating away at your gums, it also causes the gum to become receded, leaving the roots of the tooth exposed and bare, causing tooth decay to occur. 

3. Bad Breath

Tobacco contains various toxic ingredients. When these ingredients smolder together, they eventually become detrimental to your oral health in various ways. 

However, one of the multiple effects of these chemicals emitted when tobacco burns in the mouth is bad breath. This causes your mouth to smell unpleasant due to the mixture of these various chemicals during the burning process. 

In most cases, to rid the smell you need to thoroughly clean your mouth with heavy brushing, mouthwash and keep some kinds of peppermint gum or mint on hand at all times. This smell of your mouth after smoking can cause people around you to become very uncomfortable and/or sickly. 

4. It Stains Your Teeth

I know this might sound surprising to you, but your teeth have pores. When frequently smoking you’re actually allowing the microscopic pores of the mouth to trap nicone. This eventually leads to the  discolouration of your teeth from the root up. Once the nicotine is emitted, it mixes with the oxygen in your mouth and stains your teeth in a yellowish form. 

Interestingly, nicotine is colorless, but it is converted to a yellowish substance that glues on the teeth due to its mixture with oxygen. Even If you choose to chew the tobacco, the brownish tobacco comes in contact with your saliva and becomes a dark and liquid substance that stains the teeth. These stains that form on the teeth are very hard to revert back to that natural colour of your teeth. 

5. Decreases Sense of Taste And Smell

Most tobacco smokers have a very poor sense of taste and smell. Why is this so? As long as smokers continue to puff tobacco frequently, there is every tendency that their sense of smell and taste deteriorate in the process. It can be quite catastrophic at times because, as humans, we tend to rely on our major senses. Therefore, it is very vital for survival. 

For example, smell receptors get activated once we eat or taste a portion of food. So once your olfactory cells are damaged, it only means that you won’t have the ability to taste properly because of that, and it might worsen over time if you don’t stop smoking. Not only does smoking tobacco affect those two senses but it can also damage your vision. 

What To Do If You Use Tobacco?

The very first action you should take is to stop smoking. Once you do that, your overall health will improve over time, and you will avoid deadly diseases prone to smoking, such as cancer. This process will not be easy, so you might want to have the right resources at your disposal, such as support groups. 

You can also use dental flossing and regular brushing to help your oral health get better. In most possible cases, you might want to enlist the services of a dentist to check your mouth to specify the exact treatments you require during the healing process. When you go for regular checkups, you stand the chance of building your teeth and your gum to a much better state. 

Final Thoughts

Now knowing that tobacco can harm your health, you should try as much as possible to quit smoking. Contact a dental professional to assist you in the rehabilitation of your oral health and a medical professional to walk you through steps to abandon this horrible habit. 

SHARE THIS POST