Despite the health risks, millions of us are still smoking. Besides cancer, smoking can really affect your dental health as well.

In addition to the damage smoking can do to your heart and lungs, it can also have a severe impact on the health of your dental situation. Smokers are over six times more likely to get gum disease than those who do not smoke. Smoking not only damages the teeth, but it makes recovering from any type of dental procedure much more difficult.

Smoking stains the teeth. It turns them a yellowish color. The tar in cigarettes can also leave brown stains on your teeth. Normally, the saliva in the mouth helps to neutralize the pH inside the mouth. This allows the damage done by plaque to the tooth enamel to be corrected. Smoking causes this process to be less effective. Smokers are much more likely to have problems with plaque. They are also more likely to develop calculus, which occurs when plaque hardens on the surface of the teeth. This causes tooth decay to begin.

The use of tobacco can also limit how much blood can get to the tissue of the gums. This has a detrimental effect on the bones and other structures in the mouth. It also causes damage to the tissues in the gum line. It will cause the gums to become inflamed. They will begin to pull away from the tooth. This, combined with the damage to the bones, will often cause teeth to fall out. If the teeth do not fall out, they often have to be pulled out because of pain or infection. Smokers lose their teeth a lot more frequently than non-smokers. Men who smoke lose almost three teeth every ten years. Women average a loss of one and half teeth every ten years.

Smokers have a lot more dental problems than non-smokers. Unfortunately, it is also harder to treat smokers for their dental problems. Smoking is highly discouraged after dental work or oral surgery. Some dentists will not work on a patient who they do not believe will abstain from smoking prior to and after the procedure. Smokers are at high risk to develop dry socket after dental surgery. They also have a much harder time healing from dental surgery. Procedures such as dental implants are often not recommended for smokers because of the continued damage that smoking will do, even after the implants are placed.

The good news is that if a smoker quits smoking, the health of their gums can increase within a year. They won't be able to undo the damage that has been done, but once they stop smoking, their teeth will be able to hold up much longer. They can receive treatment which can help them repair the damage to their teeth and prevent future damage. Smokers who quit smoking can save their teeth before it is too late.

Thomas Ajava is with DentistStop.com - your source for dental health information.