Smoking cigarettes can negatively affect every part of the human body. Oral health is greatly affected by smoking and tobacco use. When you smoke or chew tobacco, you are at risk of losing your cheek, your tongue, your teeth, jaw or even the entire face. When you smoke or use smokeless tobacco, your risk of oral cancer increases. In fact, tobacco use accounts for most oral cancers. Smoking cigarettes, cigars, or pipes; using chewing tobacco; and dipping snuff are all linked to oral cancer.

Tobacco smoking is among the major risk factors for developing gum disease. It affects blood flow within the gums and so your body’s ability to deal with oral plaque bacteria is diminished. Periodontal disease is a more severe type of gum disease. This indicates irreparable deterioration of the gum and bone tissue covering your teeth. Smokers tend to be more at risk of this kind of damage. The periodontal destruction may also develop faster in cigarette smokers and the outcome of gum treatment is usually less good compared with non- smokers. The gum degradation in turn causes tooth mobility and so loss of one’s teeth.

Cigarette smoking leaves characteristic brown or black staining on the surface of the teeth. Smoker’s teeth additionally turn yellowish as time passes. How much dental stains and discoloring will vary according to the amount smoked. False teeth, caps and fillings can also get discolored. This will be particularly true if smoking is combined with bad oral hygiene.

Tobacco use can negatively affect any wound recovery inside the oral cavity. One should not smoke after an oral surgery such as a tooth extraction. There is a lot more risk of getting an unpleasant side effect called dry socket if one smokes soon after an extraction. Linked to this slow wound recovery, tobacco will likewise have an effect on the survival rates of dental implants. Dental implants in a smokers mouth will not set in to the jaw bone, as well as they do in a non- smoker. They are also in danger of not lasting due to bone and gum disease surrounding the dental implant.

Smoking cigarettes prevents the ordinary shedding of the surface cells from the tongue. As a result, one type of these cells becomes more lengthy, leading to an appearance like hair over the tongue surface. So the term ‘hairy tongue’ is used to apply to this unsightly condition.

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