When
you hear the word “smoking,” you might know that it causes yellow teeth or bad
breath and can lead to lung cancer, which could ultimately result in death.
This information isn’t new, there have been campaigns against smoking, and
physicians and dentists have been avid advocators in educating the public about
the damaging effects of smoking. So what is it to you? As a smoker or someone
who is considering smoking as a lifestyle change, you might be desensitized to
all this information because you have heard it so many times. You probably
think that if you do get yellow teeth and bad breath you can simply fix it by
whitening your teeth and popping in some mints before interacting with others,
both relatively cheap and easy. This is true. However, smoking can eventually
cause tooth loss. Yes, you can replace a missing tooth but it is not fast,
easy, or as cheap as whitening your teeth or keeping your breath fresh.
How
does smoking lead to tooth loss? Smoking produces periodontal disease that
causes a smoker to lose some of the connective tissue known as periodontal
ligaments, which is needed to keep the tooth immobile within the mouth. Smoking
also causes a decrease in bone level of the jaw (Jansson and Lavstedt 2002);
this bone level is needed to keep your tooth attached to your jaw. The
mechanism of these effects is that smokers make more inflammatory cells, due to
the tobacco glycoprotein, which lead to the destruction of periodontal
ligaments and alveolar bone (Hanioka et al. 2011). Tobacco glycoprotein is not
produced by the body, but because of smoking cigarettes, stimulates unnecessary
production of immune cell within our body to fight off infections. By
increasing the number of these immune cells, the area becomes inflamed which
can cause stretching, pressure, and damage of our periodontal ligaments. Once
you have a decreased in periodontal ligaments, the area that surrounds the
tooth where these ligaments used to fill is now open space for bacteria. The
harmful bacteria in these pockets multiply and cause damage to the bone of the
jaw causing tooth loss.
If
you are currently a smoker and feel as if your teeth will be falling out, don’t
panic. There are various studies that have concluded that smokers who stop
smoking decrease the chances of losing teeth. Therefore, if you are currently
smoking, quitting now will prevent future loss. In the study done by Jansson
and Lavstedt in 2002 showed that subjects who continued to smoke increased
their bone loss by 50% (p<0.001). Similarly, former smokers rate of tooth
loss for every 10 years is about 2.23 and for current smokers is 3.16 (Krall et
al. 1997). In general, cigarettes cost money to buy, lead to tooth loss, cost
money for dental restoration, and are overall damaging to your health in one
way or another.
References:
Hanioka, T., Ojima, M., Tanaka, K., Matsuo, K., Sato, F., &Tanaka, H. 2011.Causal assessment of smoking and tooth loss: A systematic review of observational studies. BMC Public Health [Internet]. 11(1) 221. Available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/221.
Jansson, L., Lavstedt, S. 2002. Influence of smoking on
marginal bone loss and tooth loss—a prospective study over 20 years. PubMed [Internet]. [cited 2013 Aug 31]. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12390572.
Krall, A.,
Dawson-Hughes, B., Garvey, J., & Garcia, I. 1997. Smoking, smoking
cessation, and tooth loss. PubMed [Internet]. [cited 2013 Sep 1]. Available
from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9326897.
Doan,
ReplyDeleteWhile most people know that “smoking is bad,” I’m glad you pointed out one of the side effects that lots of people don’t realize. Many people think that the worst effect of smoking involves the lungs. However, tooth loss is also a very serious issue. I was shocked by your statistic that ten years of smoking can cause the loss of two teeth.
Your post made me interested in the other health issues associated with smoking that we may not immediately think of. First off, older women with a history of smoking are at increased risk for hip fractures and have a lower bone density than those who never smoked. Additionally, smokers have an increased risk for stillbirth, low birth weight, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Lastly, smoking causes some pretty serious cardiovascular issues, including coronary heart disease, reduced circulation that can result in tissue loss, and abdominal aortic aneurysm. This last effect consists of the weakening and swelling of the aorta, the main artery of the body. When an aneurysm bursts or ruptures, death can result.
Some final last facts I stumbled upon :
- There are more deaths each year due to tobacco than by HIV, alcohol and illegal drug use, car accidents, suicides, and murders combined.
- If everyone stopped smoking, one of three cancer deaths in the U.S. could be prevented.
References:
Smoking and Tobacco Use: Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/
Wedro B, Shiel WC. 2012 Oct. Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. MedicineNet.com. http://www.medicinenet.com/abdominal_aortic_aneurysm/article.htm
Doan,
ReplyDeleteOne of the issues you mentioned briefly in your entry was about smoking advertisements and campaigns. Anyone who watches television will come across at least one commercial about smoking, whether it is for the promotion of a cigarette brand or more popularly those against smoking. In a study done in April 2011, researchers examined the impact of smoking cues employed in antismoking advertisements on former smokers. The study suggests that advertisements with smoking cues and a weak message have a negative impact on former smokers that urges them to smoke. The good news is that with strong messages, regardless if there is smoking cues, the urge to smoke decreases. Even though, smokers maybe desensitized to the campaigns on television, they may still pick up on cues that can cause a relapse in smoking.
As a side note, I am personally grossed out by the MTV commercial that shows a stuffed animal cat and dog attached to a long clear tube structure, when at the push of a button dispenses substances that look like feces and pee in order to get across the message that Methane (found in feces) and Urea (found in pee) are also found in cigarettes.
My question to you or anyone else is: Since cigarettes have multiple substances in them like Methane and Urea, is there a possibility that research could find the specific combination or single substance that causes periodontal disease? For example, could we rule out tobacco? It is found in cigarettes as well as pure chewing tobacco yet they both cause different diseases. Or is something like this even possible?
References:
Lee S., Cappella J. N., Lerman C., Strasser A. A. 2011. Effects of Smoking Cues and Argument Strength of Antismoking Advertisements on Former Smokers’ Self-efficacy, Attitude, and Intention to Refrain From Smoking. Oxford Journals [online]. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22949578
I was happy to read this...because like Cara commented, I think that most people do think that smoking causes yellowing of the teeth and that you can easily just put a bandaid over it by whitening them. So, smoking leads to periodontal disease, which isn't really a surprise either--this got me thinking, are some smokers at a higher risk for periodontal disease than others? I am sure they are just like some people are more of a risk for other diseases. So I looked up other risk factors, and unfortunately, genetics are at the top of the list...amongst others such as stress, medication, grinding and clenching (uh-oh I better stop clenching!), nutrition, health..and more.
ReplyDeleteMy sister is going to be 28 and she has been smoking since she was 17, so over 10 years, and she STILL has the whitest teeth ever and I wish people would stop pointing that out so maybe it would be incentive enough for her to quit! However, she had to get a root canal at 26, I don't know much about dentistry, but I think that is really young for something like that!
I think the issue with smokers not quitting is because they feel "tooth loss could never happen to me" and because they simply aren't educated. So Doan, when you become a big, bad dentist, I expect you to make this more publicly known so everyone out there will become more educated about the risks and horrible side effects of smoking other than yellowing of their teeth! Plus let's be honest, gum, brushing teeth, and/or mints don't get rid of the bad smoker's breath.
Source:
http://www.perio.org/consumer/risk-factors
As a future dentist I found this article very interesting Doan. I worked at a dental clinic in Buffalo for people that did not have health care. Most of the people that came in had very poor oral health and most were smokers. You could tell when the smokers came in not only from their odor but also when they were getting teeth extracted from an abscess or decayed teeth their teeth came out a whole lot easier. When people that didn't smoke came in, the process of extracting teeth was time consuming because their bone density in their jaw was better and also the periodontal ligaments were tighter around their teeth. When extracting teeth there are special instruments used to get in between the tooth and this ligament to allow the tooth to come out easier. The differences I saw in smokers and non-smokers at this clinic has shown me how bad smoking really is for your oral health. Now that I know the biological process of how these ligaments are affected by smoking it makes perfect since in what I saw as a dental assistant.
ReplyDeleteI know smoking is addicting but I don't know why people still continue to smoke when the cost of buying them is expensive and also the affects on the body are detrimental over time. Also, the cost of maintaing your health is more expensive with these oral affects from smoking. I still don't understand why people would want to do this to themselves financially and health-wise.
Smoking is harmful for health and your teeth. Smoking affects your lung and other organ. You may have mouth cancer during smoking. Gum disease is normal disease for chain smoker. I got more knowledge between smoking and oral disease.
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