Smoking and Gum Disease

Smoking and tabacco can have devastating effects on the heart, lungs, and other organs. However, you might not be familiar with the whole other "mouthful" of problems caused by tabacco use. Tabacco users are more likely to have calculus, a hard substance that can only be removed from your teeth during professional cleanings. If this calculus is not removed and it remains below the gum line, the bacteria in the calculus will infect the gums and release toxins that cause redness and swelling (inflammation). The inflammation and toxins cause destruction of the tissues that support the teeth, including the bone. When this happens, the gum separate from the teeth, forming pockets. Smokers and tabacco users have deeper pockets than people who do not use tabacco. These pockets fill with more plaque and bacterial toxins leading to more infection. If these pockets are left untreated, the gums may shrink away from the teeth, making the teeth appear longer and possibly causing them to become loose and fall out.

Nicotine and other chemicals found in tabacco hide the symptoms commonly associate with gum disease, such as bleeding gums, therefore the diagnosisof the condition is more difficult. Smoking and tabacco use reduce the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the gums, weaking the body's defense mechanisms. In addition to causing periodontal diseases, there are many other conditions cause by tabacco use. Many of these can affect a person's appearance, health, or self-steem: oral and lip cancer, stained teeth, bad breath, loss of taste and smell, mouth sores and spots, hairy tongue, etc.

There are more than 4,000 different toxins in cigarettes. Toxins impair the body defense mechanisms, which can leave smokers more susceptible to infections. Oral cancer causes more than 31,000 deaths each year in US. Smoking increases the person's risk of being diagnosed with oral cancer by six times more than non smokers. Men are most likely to develop the condition than women. Smoking and other tabacco use are associated with about 75% of oral cancer cases, caused by irritation of the mouth tissue from toxins and heat of cigarettes. Tabacco contains over 19 known carcinogens (causing cancer agents).

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