Smokers are twice as likely to develop gum disease and have a higher chance of experiencing dental implant failures, Taiwanese doctors and health officials said in a warning to tobacco users.
Tobacco is only legal consumer product that kills half of its users, Taiwan Dental Association chairman Chiang Hsi-jen (江錫仁) said, citing WHO data.
People should not smoke and those who do should quit as soon as possible, he said earlier this month.
Photo: Lin Chih-yi, Taipei Times
Nicotine use causes blood vessels to narrow or become clogged, reducing blood flow to levels that affect the body’s immune mechanisms and increase the risk of gum disease, he said.
Smokers tend to have black gums from a buildup of melanin, and their teeth tend to get stained and have a coarse texture, Chiang said.
Dental health problems associated with nicotine use include black gums, cavities and gum recession, and as a result, smokers are twice as likely to develop gum disease, he said.
Smoking also impairs gum tissue regeneration, resulting in a higher chance of dental implant failures, Chiang said, adding that good teeth or good dentures key to a good quality of life.
Tobacco users heal from gum injuries significantly slower than nonsmokers, association secretary-general Kuo Wen-chieh (郭文傑) said.
Inflammation and infection — the main causes of implant failure — are far more common in smokers than nonsmokers, he said, adding that tar and nicotine residue is harmful to the gums and hard to remove.
Dentists are taught to ask people if they smoke or use a tobacco product other than cigarettes if they detect sores, abscesses, hard spots, swelling or other warning signs of oral cancer in their mouths, he said.
Electronic cigarettes containing nicotine and other types of toxic substances linked to cancer are no less harmful than cigarettes, Kuo said, adding that their often uncertain origin worsens the danger.
Lo Su-ying (羅素英), director of the Health Promotion Administration’s Tobacco Control Division, said that 2,701 of the nation’s hospitals and pharmacies offer services to help people quit smoking.
Smokers are sure to be able to find a clinic, pharmacy or itinerant care provider to help them, and the cost of the drugs is partially subsidized, she said.
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