If there is one habit that doesn’t help with the reduction or elimination of gum disease, smoking is the culprit. In and of itself, smoking doesn’t cause gum disease. Those irritating little bacteria do. But there are several reasons why it doesn’t help. You already know that smoking is an unhealthy habit that isn’t beneficial to your health in any way. It damages the lungs and circulatory system. It certainly isn’t any friend to your heart. That habit alone has caused more wrinkles to appear on the loveliest of faces. Let’s add one more reason why it would be beneficial for you to kick the habit now. Smoking limits the body’s ability to fight gum disease. Here is how smoking actually aids gum disease causing bacteria.

• Causes dry mouth
• Adds another foreign substance into the mouth
• Irritates the gums

The best environment for gum disease bacteria to thrive is in a dry mouth. For anyone who has smoked, you already know that smoking is more drying to the mouth than licking a cotton ball. That habit causes mouth breathing, which doesn’t help the situation. The constant inhaling and exhaling through the mouth make it easy for bacteria to get a hold and take up residence. To reduce the occurrence of gum disease, smoking absolutely must go.

We have already established that smoking causes dry mouth. With that dry mouth comes the risk of adding another useless substance into the mouth. As human being we weren’t meant to be warehouses for all sorts of foreign substances. Tobacco smoke and the fillers added by cigarette companies aren’t part of a natural, healthy existence. Simply put, a smoking habit isn’t conducive to eliminating gum disease.

Any long time smoker can tell you that smoking makes the healing process in the mouth take much longer. Whether it was a tooth extraction or some other procedure that left a wound in the mouth, smoking can nearly double the necessary healing time. This is because cigarette smoke irritates the gums especially when they are compromised. Gum disease fits in the category of compromised. When smoking is part of the equation, gum disease is harder to fight and even harder to win the war.