Smoking Related Tooth Decay

You may be worried that smoking is giving you yellow teeth and bad breath, but that’s just the half of it. Smoking can also make you lose your teeth altogether and even give you mouth cancer. You do not want to contemplate getting oral cancer. A quick search of Google Images will show you why (warning – graphic photos).

Here’s how smoking damages your teeth:

• Saliva cleans the mouth and teeth and protects them from decay. Smoking reduces the flow of saliva reducing this protection.
• Smoking damages the flow of blood to the gums and teeth. If the teeth do not get enough nutrients, they will die and drop out.
• Smoking drastically reduces the amount of vitamin C in the body. Vitamin C is needed to keep your gums healthy.
• Smoking raises the temperature of the mouth damaging oral cells.
• The cancer causing chemicals in smoke can give you oral cancer. Smokers are 18 times more likely to develop oral cancer than non-smokers.

Nearly half of oral cancer sufferers die within five years. Quit now and give your teeth and gums more attention.