Improve your dental health - smoking
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Stop smoking
Everyone knows the health risks linked to cigarettes, but the effects smoking can have on your mouth and teeth are less well-known.
- Teeth staining: the high nicotine and tar content of cigarettes will turn your teeth yellow in a very short time. Heavy smokers complain that their teeth are brown after years of smoking
- Gum disease. Not only does smoking produces more bacterial plaque, but it causes a lack of oxygen in the bloodstream, making infected gums more difficult to heal. Gum disease is still the most common cause of tooth loss in adults.
- Mouth cancer. Most people know that smoking can cause throat cancer and lung cancer, but many don't realise it's one of the main causes of mouth cancer, as well. More people die from mouth cancer every year than from melanoma (skin cancer). What's more, if you drink and smoke regularly, you are 15 times more likely to develop mouth cancer.
Watch this video with Dr Chris for more info on mouth cancer.
- Next: How changing your diet can help your teeth
More help and advice
- Read more about dental plaque and gum disease
- An expert's advice on how to keep your teeth pain-free
- Treating dental plaque and gum disease
- Tips on getting rid of bad breath
- Tips on stopping smoking
By Rob Mansfield
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