One of the worst possible habits you could have that drastically effects your oral health is smoking. Not only can smoking lead to problems such as severe tooth discoloration and bad breath, but it can also result in dangerous oral diseases, such as gum disease, tooth decay, and oral cancer. And, if you are suffering from missing teeth, smoking can affect your ability to replace those missing teeth with dental implants. Today, Dr. Craig S. Donn is blogging from Cherry Hill and Camden County, NJ to talk about some of the ways in which smoking harms your mouth and it’s ability to accept dental implants.
Don’t Let Smoking Ruin Your Dental Implants
During your dental implant procedure, an implant fixture is placed in the empty spot left behind by your missing teeth. While that fixture is healing, a process called osseointegration occurs, resulting in the implant fixture being accepted by your body as a natural piece of your jaw structure. However, every now and then this process is interrupted by an inflammation of the tissue directly around the implant fixture. This is called peri-implantitis, and it can lead to your dental implant being rejected by your body. While peri-implantitis can happen to anyone, it tends to happen more frequently in patients who smoke.
Smoking also makes it much more difficult for your body to heal after the implant procedure because smoking slows the circulation of blood throughout your body. It is also possible for the nicotine in cigarettes to damage the tissue that makes up your jaw, teeth, gums, and facial muscles. This damage can actually increase your chances of losing another tooth. Smoking can even increase the rate at which your jawbone deteriorates, which is a problem you may already be dealing with because of your missing teeth.
Jawbone deterioration is a bad problem to have as it can affect your facial appearance. This is because our jawbone plays a large part in forming our facial structure. As a result of jawbone deterioration, it is not uncommon for patients to end up suffering from hollow cheeks, resulting in a āsunken appearanceā. These patients tend to also develop wrinkles around the jawline. As a result of these problems, patients suffering from jawbone deterioration tend to be described as appearing aged or unhealthy. This is all in addition to the fact that jawbone deterioration can prevent you from pursuing treatment with dental implants.
Call and Schedule a Consultation at Craig S. Donn, DDS
If you are a smoker who is suffering from missing teeth and would like to pursue treatment with dental implants, it is very important that you consider giving up smoking. Not only is smoking bad for your body, but it can harm your oral health to the point where you will not be able to replace any of your missing teeth with dental implants. If you would like to learn more about dental implants and why they provide the best possible treatment for missing teeth, we encourage you to contact us and schedule a no-obligation consultation with dental implant provider, Dr. Craig S. Donn, today.