Risks of Smoking
Smoking is a highly addictive habit that many people find hard to kick. In spite of this and the awareness that smoking causes cancer and contributes to lung disease, people continue to smoke. What is not always associated with smoking is periodontal disease, oral cancer or the way that it affects your teeth. Smoking cigarettes, pipes and cigars will effectively stain and yellow your teeth within a short amount of time.
Poisonous Chemicals
The components that make up smoking products include ammonia, hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. There are other poisonous chemicals too, like nicotine and tar. When a cigarette is lit, these substances are now burning, which changes their chemical properties. The smoker inhales and smoke passes through her mouth, leaving sticky residue on her teeth. Even with one inhalation of cigarette smoke, stains are left behind.
Residual Build-Up
Some brands of cigarettes contain more nicotine and tar than others. The higher the ratio of nicotine and tar, the more your teeth will be stained by the cigarette. The other thing to consider is that if your teeth are yellowed this way by cigarettes, there must be the same kind of residual build-up happening in your lungs.
A Simple Experiment
A simple experiment allows smokers to better understand how cigarettes yellow and darken their teeth. If you blow smoke onto a white napkin or tissue, you will see a yellow-brown stain where the smoke was blown. This is the same thing that happens with your teeth when you smoke. The more that you smoke, the more build-up there is. For people who have smoked for many years, the build-up is impossible to get rid of.
Tar
Tar can be blamed for the residual buildup in a smoker's mouth, airway and lungs. As this resin builds up in a smoker's body, it causes normal, healthy tissue to breakdown over time. It is highly poisonous and, when combined with nicotine, the greatest factor of why smoking causes yellow teeth.
Smoker's Toothpaste
Although there are toothpastes geared towards helping smokers have white teeth, few of these brands offer significant results. Even if a smoker is diligent about brushing, flossing and visiting the dentist regularly, his teeth will stain, darken and become yellowed.
Visits to the Dentist
While most smokers are not good about seeing the dentist regularly, those who do might ask for special tooth-whitening products or an in-office bleaching treatment. Sadly, unless the smoker is willing to kick the habit, none of these treatments are effective over the long term. For those who have crowns, bridges or other types of false teeth and implants, cigarettes yellow and darken their dental work too.
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