Amazing Facts About Smoking And Oral Health
September 2nd, 2010 by heart_health
Smoking is at the top of all bad habits that people have been doing for a long time. And the product that is most smoked daily are cigarettes. Cigarette smoking account to a big percentage of all diseases that have been caused by excessive smoking. That is because smoking and oral health are two things that just do not go well together. It would have been better if it is just stained teeth that we need to worry, but we all know that there are more dreadful diseases brought about by smoking.
Stop smoking. That has always been the advice of doctors, and even dentists like Dr. Jonathan Hartley, as they believe that smoking brings nothing but diseases and ill comfort to the smoker. Although the most popular smoking related disease is cancer, research has shown that the disease that has caused the most number of fatalities among smokers is heart disease.
These are based on facts, from researches and studies conducted by various medical institutions to help solve the problems of smoking and oral health, to be exact. Periodontis, a kind of gum disease that causes the gums to deteriorate, is among the top diseases that can be connected to smoking. Studies have shown that around 17 percent of smokers suffer from periodontis. But that is not all. Quite alarming is the fact that smoking can severely damage our immune system, making us vulnerable to a number of diseases and viruses.
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.
While there are severe cases of oral diseases, there are also the less dreadful conditions yet still the same can cause problems to the smoker. Two of these are bad breath and stained teeth. These are probably the more obvious tell-tale signs that someone is a heavy or chain smoker.
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.
Does smoking really provide more benefits to the smoker that he or she would totally ignore the facts and the data supporting the health hazards as stated by the medical professionals? There should be no reason why a person should smoke considering that the health problems related to it far outweigh any of smoking’s good points, if there are any to begin with. Dr. Jonathan Hartley and all the other dental practitioners continuously encourage people to stop smoking and to start their regular habit for a better dental and oral hygiene.
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