What Happens to Your Teeth When You Quit Smoking?

If you have finally come to the point that you want to quit smoking due to the series of information about its effects on your health and teeth, you've come to the right place. Yes, you are doing the right thing finally you can now have a healthier mouth no matter how unhealthy it has been. This will not just have a positive effect on your teeth but even to your gums and tongue. 

For people with damaged gums, there is still hope that they can go back to their natural form as long as you commit yourself to quit smoking. In this article, we will give you the exact information why you and many smokers around the world should quit smoking so your mouth stays healthy all throughout the year!

Before that, you need to know the effect of smoking on your teeth first so you can take extra precautionary measures in case you are already experiencing it. 

Effects of Smoking on Teeth

Teeth Discoloration

When you smoke, you are also destroying your teeth and gums. The nicotine in cigarettes leaves yellow spots on your teeth leading to teeth discoloration. These yellow stains will be very hard to remove for you to get back to that white smile if you continue to smoke cigarettes. Most especially, if you have been smoking for too long, the damage of nicotine on your teeth will be too much. 

However, if you quit smoking, you can still reverse its effects using different natural whitening products which you can buy on the market or can be suggested by your dental professional. Products such as whitening strips, water flosser, baking soda paste, and even fluoride paste to remineralize your teeth and help it get that whiter smile.

No More Gum Disease

One of the main causes of gum disease is smoking, when it gets serious, it also turns into periodontal disease wherein your tooth starts to fall. So, why is nicotine bad for your gums? Well, they make your gums smooth and inflamed instead of the normal pinkish and firm ones. Since your gums are holding your teeth when they are no longer, this is where they start to fall out. 

As early as now, you need to quit smoking. When neglected, you may suffer periodontitis that can no longer be cured according to in-depth research from PubMed. If that thing won't scare you, we don't know what else will.

Aside from that, the effects of smoking have also been linked to oral cancer. The risk of oral cancer in smokers has been widely disseminated all around the world to let everyone know how exposure to cancer-causing chemicals in cigarettes are very dangerous to your health. You can learn more about oral cancer here. 

However, once you quit smoking, you will be able to avoid the diseases mentioned above. As you can use different mouthwashes for gums that will bring its normal form. 

Dry Mouth Prevention

If you smoke, don’t expect to have some moisture in your mouth. Nicotine in cigarettes is the main reason why you experience dry mouth. So, there is a need to fill the water you excrete in your urine or sweat. Especially if you're not fond of drinking water, your body doesn’t acquire the amount of water it needs for different processes and functions, so the first thing that is affected is your glands that produce saliva. A dry mouth can be experienced even if you just don't smoke everyday.

Once you stop, your saliva glands will go back to its healthy form if you practice good oral hygiene and drink enough water. 

Avoid Bad Breath

No matter how you brush your teeth, when you smoke, it is hard to make the bad smell go away because of the toxins that may occur inside your mouth caused by nicotine. The bad bacteria will overpower the good bacteria leaving your mouth smelling stinky all the time. 

However, once you quit smoking you can bring back all those good bacteria by washing away the bad bacteria in your mouth using a mouthwash and eating food rich in probiotics such as yogurt. 

Avoid Tooth Loss

As mentioned above, tooth loss will happen once you have a gum disease. And this is also possible by nicotine slowly breaking your teeth causing cavities from one tooth to another, which will result in tooth removal. This will not only be painful but will also cause you money since you need professional help in doing this. 

What To Do After You Quit Smoking?

You need to take good care of your oral health. That's why you have to brush your teeth 2x a day or every after meal so you can be sure you can have the best set of white and healthy teeth. Moreover, you need to practice flossing your teeth with the use of a water flosser instead of a string floss. The reason for this is that your teeth and gums are still sensitive since you have just quit smoking, the string floss might damage your gums further. 

Unlike when you use a water flosser, the streaming water can be adjusted according to different modes that you are most comfortable with in removing the food stuck in between your teeth. Furthermore, the water coming from this device doesn't hurt at all. You can even share it with your family since they come with 4 jet tips, one tip for each to save you from spending more while making your teeth white and healthy.

Steps in Using Water Flosser

1. Fill the reservoir with warm water before placing it on the base.
2. Water flossers come with different tips so choose the one that you favored the most. 
3. Click the tip into the handle.
4. Turn on the water flosser and set the control dial too high to let the water flow. (The next time you will use it, you can set the control dial to any type of pressure you want.)
5. In a sink, you have to lean over so that the water won’t stream down to your clothes.
6. Place the tip at the gumline and let the water flow to clean each tooth. 
7. Move it from one gum to another.
8. Once you have finished flossing your teeth, turn the water flosser off and remove the tip.