You are probably well aware of the harm that smoking can do to your heart and lungs, but have you considered its damaging effects on your smile. Your oral health is profoundly compromised when you smoke tobacco. The oral health consequences range from yellow teeth to oral cancer. Understanding the following ways smoking sabotages your smile may provide some serious motivation to quit the habit:
Stained Teeth: No matter how much you try to attain a bright, white smile, if you are a regular smoker, your efforts are in vain. A yellow, dingy smile is common consequence for smokers.
Bad Breath: Who wants to smell a smoker’s breath? There is only so much a peppermint or piece of gum can do to mask the smell of cigarette smoke on a person’s breath.
Dulled Sense of Taste: Smoking can start lower your ability to taste certain foods. This can be a real downer when you are trying to enjoy your favorite chocolate cake.
Impaired Healing: Smoking creates vasoconstriction, which reduces nutritional blood flow to the skin and inhibits your body’s ability to heal injured tissues. Therefore, many smokers suffer impaired healing after dental procedures.
Gum Disease: Lighting up that cigarette puts you at a significantly higher risk for gum disease. Gum disease may start as red, puffy gums. However, left untreated, gum disease can advance to a serious condition that causes tooth loss and can even compromise your cardiovascular health.
Oral Cancer: A recent study conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, found that more than eight out of ten oral cancer patients were smokers. Oral cancer is a deadly disease if not treated early, accounting for up to 8,000 deaths in the U.S. each year.
Quitting is the only way to decrease your risk of developing tobacco-related health problems. In your quest for fresher breath and a whiter, healthier smile, consider getting serious about your nicotine habit. There are many cosmetic dentistry services that can restore your smile once you have made the choice for a better, smoke-free you. Set some short-term goals such as scheduling KöR Teeth Whitening procedure after a certain number of smoke-free days. At Grateful Dental, we do everything we can to help patients quit smoking, for the sake of their smile and their overall health.
