Smoking is inhaling and exhaling smoke from a burning plant material rolled in a wrapper. When you light it on one end and inhale the smoke on the other, the smoke travels down the airways into the lungs and via the bloodstream to the brain and other body parts. Nicotine, a chemical in cigarettes, works on the brain, creating a pleasurable, relaxing feeling that makes it challenging to quit. 

However, smoking is a habit that poses severe risks to your overall health as well as adverse dangers to your oral health. These harmful effects include teeth discoloration, bad breath, a weakened immune system, and delayed recovery, affecting your appearance, oral hygiene, quality of life, and self-confidence. Understanding the effect of smoking on your teeth can help you make informed decisions about your health.

Smoking Causes Discoloration 

There are two types of tooth discoloration, including the following:

  • Extrinsic stains — Extrinsic stains form on the tooth surface. These stains are easier to eliminate through specialist dental cleanings or whitening treatments.
  • Intrinsic stains — Intrinsic stains form beneath your enamel’s surface and may be due to deeper problems, like some medicines or trauma. These stains are more challenging to address and might require more comprehensive cosmetic dentistry solutions.

Smoking can cause both types of tooth discoloration. Cigars, cigarettes, and smokeless products, like vapes or e-cigarettes, contain harmful chemicals, which are the main cause of tooth discoloration. The chemicals affect your tooth in ways that include:

  • Nicotine — Nicotine is a substance that can turn yellow or brownish once it reacts with oxygen. As time progresses, nicotine sticks to the surfaces of the teeth, causing stains.
  • Tar — Tar is the dark material that accumulates on teeth. Tar also causes surface stains and can penetrate into the enamel, resulting in long-lasting discoloration.

According to a study conducted by Mhd N Alhatib and Ruth D Holt et al., smokers are more likely to experience tooth discoloration than nonsmokers. They also concluded that smokers have a higher degree of dissatisfaction with the look based on the appearance of their teeth. 

As the discoloration advances, it could erode the tooth enamel, making your teeth more susceptible to other oral health issues.

Cosmetic Dentistry Treatments for  Discoloration

Some of the cosmetic treatment options to address your teeth discoloration include the following:

  • Professional whitening — It can address extrinsic stains related to smoking. Your dentist can perform the treatment in their office in one dental visit, and the results are instant.
  • Crowns and bonding — These dental procedures can restore your teeth’s appearance while safeguarding them against further damage. A dental crown is a cap that dentists place on top of a tooth, while bonding entails applying a resin to change to color of your tooth.
  • Veneers — This option is ideal for intrinsic stains or severe discoloration.  Veneers are thin porcelain shells that dentists place on the front teeth, covering the discoloration and giving a more appealing look..

Your dentist can review your oral health to advise you on the most suitable solution, based on the discoloration’s extent and your dental health goals.

Smoking Causes Oral Cancer 

Oral cancer is a type of cancer that originates in the mouth. It occurs when abnormal cells multiply out of control and start to invade other tissues. Oral cancer cells can spread to other parts of your body through your blood and lymph systems, which assist the body in eliminating toxins.

Oral cancer can appear like a minor issue on the lips or in your mouth, as white spots or sores that ooze blood. Other signs and symptoms of oral cancer include unintended weight loss, chronic bad breath, earache, and pain or numbness on your face or in the mouth that happens without apparent reason. Oral cancer does not just disappear on its own, and if left untreated, it could spread to other areas like the neck and head.

Here is how smoking increases your likelihood of developing oral cancer:

The chemicals in cigarette smoke weaken your body’s immune system, making it more challenging to eliminate cancer cells. When this occurs, cancer cells keep multiplying without opposition.

Chemicals from tobacco use can destroy or alter a cell’s DNA. DNA can be likened to the cell’s instruction manual, which regulates a cell’s appropriate growth and performance. The cell may grow without control when the DNA is altered, causing a cancerous tumor.

Smoking Causes Gum Disease

Gum disease, also known as periodontal disease, is the infection of the tissues that support your teeth. Its signs and symptoms include the following:

  • Purplish or reddish gums
  • Soreness
  • Bleeding
  • Loose teeth
  • Gum recession
  • Pain when chewing
  • Halitosis or bad breath
  • A change in how your teeth fit together
  • Unpleasant taste

Severe periodontitis, if left untreated, can worsen and lead to bone loss, which ultimately could lead to loose teeth that can fall out.

When treated early, periodontal disease can be reversed. However, the condition may be too advanced to reverse if you have lost bone around the teeth because of an infection. In this case, you can only manage the disease with appropriate treatment and routine, diligent dental hygiene.

Smoking weakens your immune system, making it more challenging to fight gum infections. Additionally, smoking makes it more challenging for your damaged gums to recover. Here is what it means for you as a smoker:

  • You are twice at risk of developing periodontitis than a nonsmoker
  • The more cigarettes you smoke, the more likely you are to develop gum disease
  • You are at a greater risk of periodontitis if you have smoked for an extended duration
  • Periodontitis treatment might fail.

Smoking Causes Receding Gums

Gum recession is a type of gum disease that occurs when gum tissue drifts away from your teeth, exposing the roots underneath. The dental condition makes the teeth more prone to cavities. Your teeth could become more sensitive when eating or brushing. Gum recession can be mild, moderate or severe, affecting a single tooth or several teeth.

Although gum recession can impact individuals of various ages, you are at greater risk if you chew tobacco.

When you inhale tobacco smoke, the chemicals stick to your gums and teeth, forming tartar. Tartar obstructs the gum lines or erodes the gum line over time, resulting in recession. Smoking also decreases saliva flow, which harms the gums over time. Saliva contains minerals that keep gums healthy; you are more prone to dental diseases when saliva is inadequate.

Dry mouth

Dry mouth or xerostomia occurs when you lack sufficient saliva. The salivary glands within your mouth generate saliva, which lubricates your mouth and helps keep it clean.

Temporary dry mouth is normal. For example, your mouth can become dry if you are dehydrated. On the other hand, chronic dry mouth or constant dry mouth, could indicate an underlying health issue.

Signs and symptoms of xerostomia include the following:

  • Hoarseness
  • Bad breath
  • Taste disorders
  • Increased thirst
  • Constant sore throat
  • Dry feeling in the nose
  • Experiencing challenges when wearing dentures
  • Tongue, lip and mouth pain or sores
  • Difficulty eating, swallowing, or speaking

The Relationship Between Dry Mouth and Cavities

Dry mouth increases your risk of developing cavities because the primary function of saliva is to assist in washing away any food particles left within your mouth after eating. The enzymes in saliva enable food to break down and help with digestion. Without saliva, your teeth cannot break down food adequately, and it will stick to your teeth easily, causing plaque (a sticky film made of saliva, bacteria, and food). Plaque causes dental cavities when the bacteria convert starches and sugars into acids that erode your tooth enamel.

Saliva also has calcium, bicarbonate and phosphate, which are effective in neutralizing acidity found in plaque and aid in rebuilding and restoring the enamel.

Smoking Causes Halitosis (Bad Breath)

Cigarette smoke has many substances that can result in reduced oxygen levels and an antibiotic impact. It can consequently cause dry mouth, tooth decay, and gum disease, all of which cause an oral microbiome imbalance, contributing to bacterial growth that causes halitosis.

Additionally, chemicals in cigarette smoke can lead to an odor called ‘’smokers’ breath. Tobacco chemicals are absorbed into the bloodstream through the oral mucosa or the lung alveoli mucosa, and then the chemicals can be exhaled, resulting in a strong odor.

Since cigarette smoke components can cause conditions related to intraoral halitosis, switching to smoke-free products that do not combust tobacco, like nicotine pouches or e-cigars, can reduce bad breath in individuals who use tobacco.

Smoking Causes Slow Healing and Can Cause Failure of Dental Procedures

Smoking can restrict blood flow around your mouth, limiting the supply of oxygenated blood reaching your treatment site and slowing down your recovery duration following a dental procedure. In a dental implant, for instance, it can cause a longer recovery and make it harder for the osseointegration process (your implant fusing with your jawbone), which could lead to implant failure.

You are at greater risk of infections and complications after a dental procedure as a smoker. Cigarette chemicals weaken the immune system, making it harder for your body to fight infections. It can result in dental treatment failure or the need for further invasive surgical procedures.

The act of inhaling while smoking can create suction in the mouth and dislodge the protective blood clot, exposing the treatment site. In tooth extraction, it can lead to a dry socket that exposes the nerves and bone underneath the extraction site. 

It is advisable to wait for seventy-two hours after a dental procedure to smoke. Nevertheless, the longer the better since it promotes faster recovery. Consult your dentist to advise you accordingly.

Effects of Smoking and Reduced Sense of Smell and Taste

Smoking could impact your taste buds by interfering with your olfactory senses, making it challenging to enjoy your favorite beverages and foods. The cigarette components can damage your tongue’s taste buds, lowering your ability to perceive aromas and flavors.

Smoking and Tobacco Use Can Cause Tooth Sensitivity

Tobacco affects how well your gum tissues attach to the jawbone and could alter how the tissue cells function. It could lead to gums pulling away and exposing the roots underneath. One of the early adverse consequences that smokers experience is heightened tooth sensitivity.

How to Quit Smoking

Some of the tips to help you quit smoking are as follows:

Taking Stop Smoking Medications

The medicines to stop smoking can lessen your cravings and assist with nicotine withdrawal symptoms. However, you require a prescription and should ask your dentist to recommend the best medication.

Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)

NRT provides you with a portion of nicotine to satisfy your smoking cravings without the dangerous chemicals in tobacco smoke. The available NRT options include patches, gums and nasal sprays. You can obtain NRT with a prescription from your doctor.

Nicotine Withdrawal Signs

There are long-term benefits of quitting smoking. However, it might be challenging at first because nicotine is very addictive. Some of its withdrawal symptoms include the following:

  • Headaches
  • Feeling sick
  • Desire to smoke
  • Poor quality of sleep
  • Lack of concentration
  • Feeling anxious, irritable or restless

Since everyone is different, different people experience different types of withdrawal symptoms.  The symptoms are severe within the initial few days following your last smoke and then become easier within two to four weeks. The stop-smoking kits and professional support can ease withdrawal symptoms until they disappear.

Find a Knowledgeable and Qualified Dentist Near Me

Smoking has severe repercussions for your oral health, like increased likelihood of developing gum disease, delayed recovery, increased risks of complications, and discoloration. Quitting smoking is the suitable decision for maintaining optimal oral and overall health. If you use tobacco products, it is essential to work with a compassionate dentist. Los Angeles Advanced Dentistry can support you in restoring your oral health and smile by offering guidance to overcome smoking cravings and professional medical care to reverse or treat the impact of smoking on your dental health. Please contact us at 310-361-2080 to schedule your free consultation and learn how we can help you.