Can Smoking Cause Periodontal Disease?

In some cases, smoking can cause periodontal disease to occur. You know the problems that smoking causes in terms of your overall health. It leads to lung disease, cancer and can have horrible side effects on skin and the health of your other organs. All of this is bad enough, but in addition to them, realize that smoking can cause dental health problems as well. While this may not be one of the biggest reasons to stop smoking (your life expectancy drop may be a bigger one, for example) it is yet another reason to finally put down the cigarettes.

Smoking’s Effect
If you are smoking, you are exposing your mouth to a slew of toxins with each breath you take in. Those toxins can cause periodontal disease. The problem is that the smoking chemicals actually inflame the gums of the teeth. It does not kill the bacteria in your mouth, but provides a weakened area of the gums for the bacteria to perform well. Many people experience a number of health problems related to smoking, but one of the most noticeable from the outside is the yellowing of the teeth. This is the build up of plaque and tartar, both signs that the periodontal disease you have is spreading and will likely worsen over the short period of time.

Smoking Slows Recovery
If you want to start taking control of your health, you may decide to start improving your dental hygiene. You may visit the doctor. You may use products such as OraMD to help you to fight back the bacteria that is the underlying cause of periodontal disease. However, if you continue to smoke while you are doing this, chances are good that you will be unable to overcome the condition totally. Smoking continues to encourage the growth of bacteria which in turn leads to the development of new gum problems.

In many cases, the best treatment available to those who are smokers is to adopt a daily oral hygiene program to ontinuously fight off the bacteria present in your mouth. However, it is also important for you to consider the benefits of not smoking. Smoking can cause periodontal disease to form and to grow rapidly as well. To stop this, you need to consider not smoking. Of course, there are many reasons to finally put down that cigarette, but smoking does lead to the buildup of plaque which can be dangerous to your health.