Today, May 31, is World No Tobacco Day. This dangerous substance is one of the most silent enemies our mouths have, so at Clínica Peydro we want to go over the various harmful effects of tobacco on the mouth.
More than 10 billion people around the world use tobacco, yet very few of them are aware of the serious consequences that continued use can bring. After years and years treating patients from all over the world, we have seen how tobacco use is one of the main causes of a range of oral diseases. Would you like to know which ones? Read on!
The harmful effects of tobacco on the mouth are many: from small stains on the teeth to cancer of the cheek, tongue or gums. Although we always warn about the consequences of smoking, today we go through them one by one.
Bad breath
Tar and other additives mean that one of the main harmful effects of tobacco on the mouth is bad breath, also known as halitosis. On top of that, tobacco use also causes dry mouth, which contributes to bad breath and to poor hygiene and oxygenation in the mouth.
What is more, if you smoke you should also have regular health check-ups, since the bad breath caused by tobacco can mask other, more serious problems.
Yellow teeth
Do you want healthy, bright teeth? Stop smoking. Tobacco use is the main cause of tooth staining, even more so than coffee, tea or wine. Tobacco smoke soaks into the teeth and gives them a more yellow appearance that can only be removed with professional teeth whitening.
In short, tobacco causes surface discoloration and encourages tartar to build up.
A duller sense of taste and smell
Continued tobacco use can mean you no longer taste and smell things properly. Because of tobacco, smokers develop a reduced ability to smell and to taste, especially with salty food, so they may unwittingly raise their blood pressure.
Periodontal disease
Periodontal disease is without doubt one of the harmful effects of tobacco on the mouth that worries smokers most. Patients who smoke are three times more likely to develop periodontitis than non-smokers, and not only that: they tend to be diagnosed later, which makes solving the problem far more complex.
Basic periodontal treatment involves improving the patient’s oral hygiene and scaling and root planing, and research findings show that the response is worse in smokers than in non-smokers. 90% of periodontitis cases that do not respond properly to conventional periodontal treatment occur in smokers.
Periodontal disease can in turn cause symptoms such as receding gums, loose teeth, teeth drifting apart, increased tooth sensitivity, especially to cold, sore gums, bad breath, and gum abscesses and swellings.
More dental implant failures
Have you lost a tooth and want implants? If you smoke, you should know that the treatment failure rate is higher in patients who smoke. So much so that it is one of the key risk factors in the development of peri-implantitis (infection around the implant).
Oral cancer
Of all the harmful effects of tobacco on the mouth, oral cancer is the most worrying. Tobacco contains a great many carcinogens, nicotine and tar chief among them.
The risk of oral cancer is six times higher in a smoker because of the effect tobacco has on the mouth, the tongue, the lip and the salivary glands. According to government figures, tobacco is responsible for 50% of oral cancers, 70% of cancers of the larynx and 50% of cancers of the esophagus.
Although adults should see their dentist twice a year in any case, for people who use tobacco we recommend regular check-ups to keep oral disease from taking hold and to limit the harmful effects of tobacco on the mouth.
