How do smokeless tobacco products affect your dental health?
“Chewing tobacco is not additive like Cigarettes”, “Smokeless tobaccos are not much worse because we do not inhale it”
Do you believe these things? If Yes, this post is for you, friend. These are the common misconceptions regarding smokeless tobacco. If you don’t smoke cigarettes but consume smokeless tobacco like snuff, snus, dip, gutka, mawa, tobacco gum, or other forms, they also have a wreck on your health. Your dental health is not an exception.
Our dentists have explained chewing tobacco’s havoc on your oral cavity. Keep reading.
Table of Contents
What are the ingredients found in smokeless tobacco?
Along with grounded tobacco leaves, smokeless tobacco products hold various chemical compounds including:
- Nicotine
- Polonium
- Formaldehyde
- Lead
- Cadmium
- Nitrosamines
- Arsenic
- Slaked lime
- Salt
- Sugar
- Flavoring agents
When you put it under the inside of the lower lips or between the gums and inner cheeks, the oral tissues are exposed to chemical & noxious substances. This on a regular basis tends to develop various oral and bodily disorders.
What are the effects of smokeless tobacco on oral health?
When a smokeless or chewing tobacco product, regardless of its form is placed inside your time, it releases harmful constituents like nicotine and makes your mouth a lot of saliva. Whatever the type of tobacco product is, it would contain nicotine which is a very addictive drug.
Similar to cigarettes, nicotine is accompanied by various synthesized agents in chewing tobacco products. When they enter the bloodstream, the blood flow is lessened followed by weakening the immune system. Thus smokeless tobacco users become susceptible to various oral health hazards as well as smokers. Here are some instances:
- Gum Recession – As the tobacco substances are placed near the gums, gum tissues are highly prone to damage. Persistent use of tobacco products will irritate & even damage the surrounding tissues. It tends to gum recession, exposing the sensitive layers of teeth and increasing the risk of developing gum diseases.
- Leukoplakia – Having a small pinch of tobacco products continuously in a place would irritate and infect the site. The affected region is thickened and develops white or yellow-colored patches inside the mouth.
- Teeth Sensitivity – As discussed earlier, sugar substances, artificial sweeteners are present in smokeless tobacco products. When you chew or suck them continuously, it erodes the enamel causing teeth sensitivity.
- Tooth loss – Certain tobacco products contain sand and grit. Prolonged chewing of such substances will weaken your teeth. The sugar compounds contribute to cavities and even weaken a tooth’s gum support. This contributes to bone loss around the tooth which tends to tooth loss.
- Teeth staining – The nicotine and tar particles in smokeless tobacco can easily penetrate a tooth via the minute pores in the enamel layer. It causes a stubborn colored layer on teeth. Smokers also develop teeth discoloration due to nicotine in this manner.
- Dulled the sense of taste – The toxicants in smokeless tobacco particles are powerful to infect the taste buds in the tongue thereby diluting the sense of taste.
Besides soft oral tissues, chewing tobacco is hard on composite restorations. In essence, the oral complications of smoking are also prevalent in people who are taking chewing tobacco products.
Bottom line
People who regularly chew tobacco substances have a higher risk of irritations or dubious conditions like abnormal collagen growth in the throat, pancreas, gullet, and even stomach. However, most tobacco consumers do not realize that the products they are using contain tobacco.
If you are one among them, get regular dental check-ups. Likewise, consult your dentist or healthcare professional to break this habit.
