I’m Getting Dentures Soon; Should I Quit Smoking?

Dentures are an excellent way to restore your smile after extensive tooth loss because they allow a patient to have a beautiful smile and eat many foods that are impossible to chew without teeth. While dentures do so much to improve their quality of life, patients may still need to make certain lifestyle changes to keep them fitting well and looking great for as long as possible. Here are a few excellent reasons to quit smoking if you wear dentures.

How Smoking Affects the Mouth

The smoking habit has devastating consequences for your oral health and can cause your dentures to need replacement sooner. A few reasons for this include:

Smoking increases the rate of bone loss.

To stay strong and healthy, the jawbone needs exercise to keep it stimulated, and this exercise usually comes from the teeth working against it during the chewing process. After a tooth is lost, the part of the jaw that supported it begins to atrophy and recede. While dentures restore some of this exercise, smoking causes the jaw to recede faster, which can eventually lead to the mouth sinking into the face, creating an elderly appearance, and the dentures no longer fitting properly.

Smoking can make your dentures uncomfortable to wear.

Since tobacco smoke can irritate the soft tissues in the mouth, it can cause them to become swollen, inflamed, and sensitive. This can make wearing even the best-fitting pair of dentures severely uncomfortable and make it difficult to properly eat and speak.

How Smoking Affects Your Dentures

Smoking also has unpleasant consequences for your dentures. While it’s common knowledge of smoking cigarettes can cause stains to form on your teeth, many people don’t realize that it can leave chemical and tar deposits on artificial teeth as well, leaving them with unsightly stains and discoloration. To make matters worse, the pores in the acrylic dentures are made of can absord the chemicals in the smoke. This will make the dentures smell terrible, which will affect their wearer’s breath as well.

What’s the Solution?

The only real solution to the problems smoking causes for people who wear dentures is to kick the habit. While this is easier said than done, it will bring lifelong benefits to your overall health while helping your dentures last and fit comfortably for as long as possible. There are many resources available to help people quit smoking, and these can be found online, through medical professionals, or through community organizations. While quitting smoking isn’t easy, it is well worth the effort for your health and your smile.

About the Author

Dr. Terry L. Drennan earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery at the University of Texas Dental School at San Antonio Health Science Center in 1979, and he continues to develop his skills through continuing education classes. He is a lifetime member of organizations such as the American Dental Association, the Texas Dental Association, and the Fort Worth District Dental Society. His office in Fort Worth, TX offers general, cosmetic, restorative, and emergency dentistry as well as denture treatments. To learn more about caring for your dentures, contact his office online or dial (817) 732-5522.