Smoking can cause health issues, such as dental disease, as it contains some chemicals. Health practitioners always support and advise every individual to prioritise oral hygiene and avoid habits that cause health issues. Their efforts to reduce health issues related to smoking have resulted in an increased number of individuals seeking dental care through regular dental check-ups and screening. Let’s explore 5 negative effects of vaping and smoking.
Smoking and Your Oral Health
Causes tooth discoloration
The stains from tar and nicotine in cigarettes are tough to deal with. They cause teeth to turn yellow and discolour, which regular brushing can’t remove. Getting your bright smile back usually means hauling yourself into the dentist’s office for heavy-duty treatments.
Increases the risk of gum disease
Smoking also harms your gums since all those toxic chemicals lower your immunity. Your body has a harder time fighting infections, including the bacteria building up around your gums. Plus, if you skip too many dental visits, mild gum disease can become severe periodontitis, attacking your gum tissue and jaw bone until your teeth eventually detach and fall out.
It can lead to tooth loss
The progression of gum disease in smokers can often destroy teeth over time. As things worsen, the infection eats away at bone and tissue holding teeth in place. Eventually, they get loose and fall out. Smokers tend to deal with this more compared to people who don’t smoke, so it’s a big deal to try to keep your mouth healthy.
Increased risk of mouth cancer
Maybe the worst thing is the higher risk of mouth cancer for smokers. Lighting up puts lots of cancer-causing chemicals in your mouth. This can make cells in the mouth, throat, or esophagus mutate. This raises the chance of developing cancer in those places. So, regular dental visits to screen for issues early are key to treatment.
Vaping and your Oral health:
Dry Mouth
Vaping often can cause dry mouth – where there is insufficient spit to keep your mouth moist. Spit neutralises acids from bacteria, flushes out food bits, and helps digestion. Not having enough spit causes bad breath, tooth decay, and more infections.
Gum Inflammation
The chemicals in vape vapour, like nicotine, irritate gums. This leads to sensitive, swollen, reddish gums—like gum illness signs. We still have to learn about long-term vape effects on gums, but early on, it seems vaping bothers gum tissue.
Nicotine’s Impact
Nicotine, whether from cigs or vapes, limits blood flow to our gums, making it harder for essential nutrients and oxygen critical for healthy gums to be delivered. Gradually, this can cause gum recession and make gum disease more likely.
Potential Cell Harm
Studies have shown the vapour from vapes can damage DNA and kill cells in the mouth. This harm can increase the risk of developing mouth cancers, similar to traditional smoking.
Risk Comparison
Both smoking and vaping mess up oral health, but smoking tends to have more severe and documented effects. However, thinking vaping is completely safe needs to be rethought. Both put dangerous stuff in the mouth that can cause various dental problems.
Conclusion
To effectively kick the habit, you will need to avoid triggers that lead to smoking. Find what makes you head for a puff. It could be hanging out with certain friends, feeling stressed, or doing routine activities like driving or finishing a meal. Knowing your triggers will help you anticipate and handle them in healthier ways instead. With some determination and TLC, you can quit smoking, stop vaping, and get your mouth feeling fresh and healthy again over time, and the payoff is worth it!
