Smoking increases one’s chances of gum disorders, tooth loss, complications following tooth extraction and mouth surgery, and mouth cancer development.
Quitting smoking lowers the incidence of gum disease and mouth cancer, increases responsiveness to gum treatment, and helps mouth cancer.
Those who smoke should routinely visit their Point Pleasant dentist to maintain healthy teeth and gums and to look for indications of oral cancer.
Those who vape should also routinely see a dentist to identify and address any dental health issues.
How Vaping Affects Your Oral Health
You are still breathing chemicals, including nicotine, even if e-cigarettes differ from smoking cigarettes. And, like the smoke produced by a cigarette burning, e-cigarette vapors also come into touch with your teeth and gums. Let us now discuss the effects this has on your oral health a little further.
- Vaping Harms Gum Health
Whether smoked, chewed, or piped, nicotine narrows blood arteries. This indicates a lower blood flow to gum tissue, which can cause problems mending as well as difficulty obtaining oxygen and nutrients for this vital tissue. These issues raise your chance of gum disease, which frequently causes tooth loss.
Moreover, vaping might aggravate the gums and mouth lining, which might cause dental sensitivity, gum recession, and mouth ulcers.
- How Vaping Affects Teeth
Speaking about your teeth, vaping can also directly harm teeth more directly in a variety of ways in addition to the possible tooth loss resulting from advanced gum disease. First, the compounds in e-cigarettes could discolor or brown your teeth. Although this is mostly a cosmetic issue, your dental appearance might affect your well-being.
Furthermore, vaping can dry your mouth, which would make it harder for you to fight off cavities. Saliva naturally cleans trash and contains antibacterial properties, so shielding teeth from decay.
Moreover, some of the compounds in vaping liquids can split into acids that erode enamel. Sweet and sticky compounds also help to create flavors. Although vaping seems tempting, it doubles the development of biofilm and raises the possibility of decay since it causes four times as many bacteria to attach to teeth.
Finally, nicotine can also be stimulating, which could cause tooth grinding and wear away tooth enamel.
- Oral Cancers
Since vaping is a relatively recent phenomenon, long-term studies on the connection between e-cigarettes and cancer are few. Still, vaping has been related to oral as well as other tumors. Although the risk of cancer from vaping seems to be less than that of regular cigarettes, the danger is still much higher than it would be for those who neither smoke nor vape.
Preventing teeth and gum problems in smokers
Should you be a smoker, there are some steps you can take to avoid issues with teeth and gums:
- Try to stop smoking; for direction and assistance, consult with your doctor, dentist, or phone Quitline.
- Try cutting back on the number of cigarettes you smoke first if you find it tough to give them up.
- Once a day, gently clean between your teeth with dental floss (for little gaps) or interdental brushes (for larger gaps).
- See your dentist six to twelve months out. They can discover issues early on and offer guidance on how you should take care of your teeth and gums at house.
- Steer clear from dry mouth. To increase salivation flow, sip plenty of water and chew gum devoid of sugar. If you use drugs that produce dry mouth, this is very crucial.
- Steer clear of recreational drugs and limit alcohol.
Conclusion
The greatest method to safeguard your health is to stop smoking, vaping, and any other use of nicotine or tobacco; these will badly affect your teeth and gums. On the other hand, if you decide to start vaping as a stepping stone toward smoking cessation, e-cigarettes could be less harmful and hence have some advantages.