Smoking and your oral health

by: Dr Brendon R. Richards
DDS, Dental Surgeon
Member of the St.Vincent and the Grenadines Medical Association.

There is nothing more invigoratingly refreshing to human breathing than fresh air.

Granted this, there can be nothing more antithetically destructive to human inhalation than smoking. Cigars, cigarettes, tobacco and marijuana are not only linked to lung cancer and heart disease, they can create serious structural damages to the mouth as a complex cavity.{{more}}

The mouth, like the lungs, takes a heavy beating from smoking. In fact smoking is known to set off 75% of all cancers of the mouth. According to the Journal of Periodontology, smoking is about four times more likely to cause advanced gum disease in smokers than in non-smokers.

It is responsible for the constant plaque and tartar build up, with double the risk of tooth loss. It stains teeth and is a major cause of persistent bad breath; loss of the essential senses of taste and smell; dry mouth and chronic salivary gland inflammations, causing salary-gland cancers over time. Smoking also delays healing after tooth extraction and can lead to a temporary, painful alveolitic condition known as dry socket.

With Cancers constituting the number one death causing disease in St. Vincent & the Grenadines; the old idiom that: ‘My father smoked all his life and nothing happened’ is rapidly losing its rational. Today’s generation has a lot more to battle with than those in years gone by. Our highly refined foods, poor nutrition, indiscriminate use of household sprays and insecticides, excessive vehicle carbon emissions, little outdoor physical exercise and poor stress management add very little strengthening resistance to our biology. The truth is: there are just too many things working against our health to add smoking to the list.

So if you haven’t started smoking please don’t, and if by chance you have, though it could be difficult to quit, it is not impossible. Be comforted that half of all the people who have ever smoked have also quit. Knowing how to quit then is just as important as trying to.

• First, you must develop a strong reason for quitting. If you don’t have a reason most likely you won’t follow through with it. For some their reason may be: not to hurt their unborn child, children or family members with second hand smoking; not to get oral cancer, slow down aging or kick the bad breath. Whatever it is, you have got to find your reason.

• Secondly, get professional help- talk to your doctor about nicotine replacement methods.

•  Clean up your immediate environment. Remove all cigarettes, ashtrays and lighters.

• Find a social support group or someone you can call in your weak moments, that knows that you are trying to quit and can remind you of all the reasons why you decided to in the first place.

• Have regular dental checks to ensure no oral cancers developing.

• Maintain good oral hygiene

• Learn how to do an oral cancer examination on yourself by checking for:

• Sores around the face, neck, or mouth that do not heal within two weeks.

• Frequent bleeding gums.

• White, red or dark patches on cheeks, palate, as well as , on or under the tongue. If such lesions do not disappear in two weeks, check your dentist immediately

• Swellings, lumps or bumps on lips, gums or other areas in the mouth.

• Numbness, pain or loss of feeling in any area of the mouth.

Remember being healthy is not sufficient: staying healthy is even is more important.