Amazing Facts About Smoking And Oral Health
Among the top bad habits that many people have learned to acquire, smoking is perhaps the worst. Most especially cigarette smoking. If having stained teeth is just the bad side effect of smoking, it would not have caused much concern in the medical field. But we all know that is not the only thing that we should be worried about. Smoking and oral health do not mix, because the result would be devastating to our health.
Dentists like Dr. Jonathan Hartley have long advocated that people should stop smoking because of its many ill effects on the health. Some of these include cancer (particularly oral cancer), heart disease, emphysema, kidney disease, and even infertility. Even studies have shown that of all the smoking-related diseases, the major cause of death among smokers is heart disease.
These claims against smoking are based on truth and not hearsay. Countless studies and researches have been made to find out the real deal about smoking and oral health. For example, one research study claims that around 18 percent of current smokers are suffering from the gum disease called periodontis. What happens when you have this disease is that your gums are deteriorating, leaving black marks all over your gums. It also affects the health of the teeth. Another thing to worry about is that smoking can make our immune system falter. What this means is that we are now more prone to sickness and diseases.
There are other health concerns that by themselves should be enough to keep us away from smoking. For one there is mouth cancer which is very difficult to diagnose during its early stage of development. Especially if the patient did not undergo regular dental check-up appointments. In Australia alone, Dr. Jonathan Hartley mentioned that around 3% of all the cancers diagnosed in the country are mouth cancers. This type of cancer can develop in the tongue, the salivary glands, the lips, and also the throat.
If there are deadly diseases caused by smoking, of course there are those that are less scary but still imposes some problems. One is bad breath which is very common among the chain smokers. All of us know at least one person who is a smoker whose breath constantly smells like cigarettes or something else that is foul.
Therefore if you are thinking of quitting because of at least of the superficial effects of smoking to our teeth and mouth, most dentists say that you should increase your brushing and flossing. Aside from preventing periodontis and other oral diseases, brushing and flossing is also said to help curb the desire to smoke. Now, not only can you make your teeth cleaner and your breath fresher, but you will be on your way to completely turning your back on this very nasty habit.
The medical experts have for so many years raised the warning flag against smoking. Dentists like Dr. Jonathan Hartley have been at the forefront of those in the medical field who would love to see less people smoking. What do you get from smoking cigarettes? You get heart disease, emphysema, lung diseases, cancer and other deadly diseases. Consider yourself lucky if all that you get are stained teeth and bad breath. There are more reasons why you should not smoke as compared to its benefits. Heed the call of the doctors and stop smoking right now.