Smoking is not only dangerous for your lungs, it can also irreversibly damage your teeth. Aside from the obvious respiratory and circulatory repercussions, there are other problems that are associated with smoking. Owing to the close proximity of the gums to the smoke caused by the habit, smokers now make up 50% of people with gum disease in the world.

Smoking can make your bones brittle, and prolonged exposure to smoke can lead to a pronounced risk of the bone and support structure of the teeth being eaten away.

Not only your teeth, but also your gums could be damaged by too much smoking. The cells in your gums are essential for beautiful teeth because they not only support your teeth structure, they also supply the needed nutrients, especially calcium, to your teeth. Once the toxic substances in cigarette smoke affects the gums, the natural regeneration of the gum cells slow down. It can be dangerous if the gums and bones that support the teeth are already degenerating. It means the whole area can become vulnerable to bacteria.

Smoking slows down the healing process which means your mouth might not recover fast if you have sores and you smoke. This particularly applies if you have orthodontic and dental surgery. Damage on the gums from any source is supposed to heal right away, with the way the body is equipped by antibodies and elements that can fight off infection. However, if you smoke too much, the healing process of mouth sores can be extremely slow. This is all because the smoke itself can cause cellular decay in the gums. Smoke slowly undoes any repairs done to the gums through surgery.

If your whole mouth is compromised by bacteria, tooth decay will ensue as well as other damage. The teeth become loose because the strength of the fibers that hold them together are loosening up. You know you need to deal with the problem if after smoking for a while, you get tooth aches. I don’t mean tooth aches that are directly caused by cavities. What I mean is the kind of aching that comes after you eat something cold or hot. The gums and the teeth are weakening to bacteria, which means you have to stop whatever it is that is causing these things to keep the damage from getting any worse.

Cigars and pipes also lead to the same teeth conditions as cigarettes. To be safe, don’t smoke. You might have heard that smoking is bad for you. Well, now you know that smoking can also cause you to develop hideous looking teeth. This is one of the reasons why a lot of people consider smoking to be one of the filthiest, least healthy habits a person can have.

If quitting smoking is difficult for you, you may want to try switching to an electronic cigarette.
E-cigarettes do not make you smell, are much cheaper, and do not contain all of the chemicals that a regular cigarette does.