For many years it has been recognised that smoking tobacco has harmful effects on general health. In the mouth it is known that smoking is linked with white patches and oral cancer. In addition, research over the past 20 years has shown that cigarette smoking causes significant harm to the periodontal (gum) tissues.

 

The evidence shows that smokers:

 

• Have more severe gum disease than non-smokers, with deeper periodontal pockets and more loss of gum and bone support

• Have greater tooth loss

• Respond less well to all types of periodontal treatment

• Are more likely to suffer a return of periodontal problems

• Surprisingly, smoking can disguise the superficial signs and symptoms of active gum inflammation such as bleeding, so smokers may be unaware that there is a problem.

 

Quitting tobacco smoking

 

The good news is that if you stop smoking, you can respond just as well to periodontal treatment than non-smokers. Within a few months of quitting smoking the appearance and health of your gums can improve with treatment.  Quitting smoking is therefore very beneficial.

 

Quitting smoking is very hard but you can see that it is crucial to achieving great gum health. We would like to encourage you to stop smoking as part of your periodontal therapy. Quitting should be a planned programme. Your GP practice may have trained stop smoking professionals. Stop smoking support increases the success of quitting by four times. This is further doubled by the use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and Zyban (bupropion). You can find more information at smokefree.nhs.uk  and nosmokingday.org.uk.

 

There are many good reasons to stop smoking. Not only will your general health improve but stopping smoking will improve your wellbeing and oral health. A better response to any periodontal treatment can be expected and a return of your periodontal problems is less likely to occur.