Tobacco and Oral Health




smokers mouth Although most of us are aware of the facts that smoking causes cancer and lung disease, heart attacks, and strokes, the impact of tobacco on oral health is generally less known. Yet, the use of tobacco in the forms of smoking and chewing is the primary cause of oral health decay.

The Academy of General Dentistry of Islamabad, the city where the majority of adult population still heavily smoke or chew tobacco, says that tobacco consumption causes serious problems with oral health, including oral cancer, loss of teeth, and gum disease. In the U.S, tobacco is not only the leading cause of different serious diseases and death cases, but also one of the main causes of preventable oral health problems.

Oral cancer is just one devastating illness caused by smoking and chewing tobacco. Tobacco use in any form, including smoking cigarettes and cigars, has a direct carcinogenic influence on the epithelial cells of the mouth lining. The signs of this deadly disease include the appearance of red or discoloured areas inside the mouth, bleeding from the throat and mouth, difficulty swallowing, and swollen lumps around or inside the mouth. Oral cancer often remains undiagnosed in its treatable early stages, which causes a high percentage of deaths among affected people: the five-year survival rate for this form of cancer is only a bit more than 50 percent, or half of all cases. Cessation of using tobacco reduces the risk of developing mouth cancer within 10 years. Other oral mucosa diseases associated with smoking and smokeless forms of tobacco use, such as chewing and using snuffs, include smokers palate, a premalignant mouth lesion that is often observed among chain pipe-smokers; oral candidosis; and smoker’s melanosis, a melanin pigmentation or discoloration of the gums that is observed in about 30 percent of all smokers.

Teeth loss is another unpleasant consequence of using tobacco, so is gum disease, a chronic inflammation of the gums and surrounding mouth areas. As gum disease progresses, the inflammation spreads on the teeth bone structure producing the symptoms of swollen and painful gums, bleeding, bad breath, and loose teeth. Different forms of gum disease include periodontal disease, gingivitis, and periodontitis with subsequent loss of teeth in severe cases, all of which have a clear association with tobacco use in the form of smoking or chewing.

Smoking and chewing tobacco is also responsible for staining and discolouring of teeth and cases of persistent bad odour from the mouth. Another oral problem linked to tobacco use is the condition called “black hairy tongue”, which manifests in the appearance of black or brown stains on the surface of the tongue.

Darlene Marlow

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Posted on November 18, 2007 
Filed Under Smoking and Health

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