Smokers are four times more likely to have diminishing oral health status compared to people who have never smoked in their lives, reports the National Center for Health Statistics.
NCHS Data Brief No.85 reports that people who are current smokers are more likely to develop a wide range of oral health problems than former or non-smokers. Apart from this, the report also states that smokers are less like to visit their local dentist regularly.
How Smoking Impacts Your Oral Health
Smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products holds a profoundly negative impact on both your dental and periodontal health. This shouldn’t be surprising at all considering that your mouth is essentially the initial point of contact between a lit cigarette and the rest of your body.
The tobacco content of a lit cigarette alone contains over 4,000 chemicals. A good number of these are poisonous chemicals and at least 50 are proven to be cancer-causing ingredients known as carcinogens.
Frequent tobacco consumption has always played an active role in the growth of suspicious tissues, lesions, and sores in the mouth. As such, smokers are found to have higher risk of acquiring oral cancer compared to non-smokers.
Aggressive tooth decay and periodontal diseases, tobacco stained teeth, and bad breath are among the many negative characteristics of tobacco usage. Smoking also negatively impacts senses – your sense taste and smell, among others.
Smoking and Wisdom Teeth Removal
Smokers are advised to quit for a few days following wisdom tooth removal surgery as smoking will affect and slow down the healing process.
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According to the American Dental Association (ADA), smoking can also affect your sense of taste and smell and delay your recovery after a tooth extraction or other dental procedure.
In addition, the tar from cigarette smoke stains your teeth, causes bad breath and can discolour your tongue. The only way to remove these stains is with a professional cleaning in the dentist’s office.
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