Heavy smokers always have a yellow or brown tint to their enamel. This violates the overall aesthetics and makes you think about how to remove plaque on teeth after smoking and whether this can be done at home. Any dental plaque is a source of infection that can spread to nearby tissues. Therefore, you should treat cigarette residue responsibly and use all possible ways to eliminate it.
Ideally, it is better to quit smoking. Nicotine, tar and other chemical compounds negatively affect the health of the oral cavity and respiratory system, and increase the risk of developing severe infectious diseases. But not everyone can give up years of smoking. In this case, it is important to regularly visit the dentist and use methods that allow you to remove plaque on your teeth after smoking without harm to your health.
How does smoking affect a person's language?
Smoking has a detrimental effect on the entire oral cavity, nasopharynx, bronchi and lungs.
Keep in mind! All mucous membranes are affected by toxic hot smoke. First of all, the tongue is negatively affected.
Nicotine affects the sensitivity of taste buds, which leads to a significant decrease in the sense of taste of food.
Medical studies have proven that smokers and non-smokers have significantly different taste sensitivity thresholds.
This indicates that nicotine contributes to the morphological and functional restructuring of taste buds.
Taste buds not only help you enjoy the taste of food, but also influence the process of salivation, digestion, and the secretion of gastric juice.
Which type of smoking causes more plaque?
The man came in for routine professional hygiene. Since he smokes, plaque forms quite quickly, is dark in color and causes bad breath. Smoker's plaque is difficult to remove with home remedies. To get rid of plaque and tartar, a man visits a hygienist every six months. After hygiene, teeth are perfectly clean.
About 5 months ago, instead of regular cigarettes, I started smoking an electronic cigarette, IQOS, because I heard that it was less harmful. Knowing that the Dial-Dent clinic database stores photographs from previous visits, the man decided to check whether smoking an IQOS e-cigarette actually has fewer negative effects on health, for example, on dental health.
The hygienist applied a plaque indicator to the teeth and compared photos of the teeth before hygiene, taken during the last visit and now:
The photographs show that plaque on teeth from smoking has begun to form to a lesser extent, but there is no talk of safe smoking of electronic cigarettes; the smoker’s plaque is still there.
Conclusion:
Smoking an iqos electronic cigarette reduces the formation of smoker's plaque, but does not eliminate it completely.
What signs of plaque can be identified and what color is it?
Plaque on the tongue is a deposit in the form of bacteria . The plaque layer can be thin or dense.
The color and density of plaque may indicate the presence of certain diseases, so a sudden change in it will help monitor your health.
It is worth noting! In a healthy non-smoker, the plaque is most often thin and white in color. On a smoker's tongue, it most often has a dense texture and can be yellow or gray.
Gradually, the coating on the smoker’s tongue becomes denser, and the color darkens from the effects of nicotinic acid, which is present in cigarette smoke.
This type of plaque is difficult to remove; in smokers it has an unpleasant odor.
Coated tongue of smokers
According to statistics, 94% of smokers develop a coating on their tongue. Smoking is directly related to this problem, since the toxic substances contained in tobacco smoke disrupt the microflora of the oral cavity. Beneficial bacteria die and are replaced by fungi and bacteria that actively develop in a humid environment.
At the beginning, a white, dense coating appears, the consistency of thick sour cream. Over time, it darkens from the effects of nicotinic acid , which is part of the composition. To cure a person, the doctor takes swabs from the mouth and sends them for examination.
The type of bacteria or fungus is determined in the laboratory; after receiving the results, the doctor prescribes medications that act on this type of microorganism. It is quite difficult to get rid of this problem on your own, so for treatment it is necessary to identify the type of bacteria.
Video taken from channel: JitZdorovo
In addition to light deposits, a dark, brown or even black shade can also form. Its appearance may be a symptom of more serious diseases associated with the functioning of internal organs, in particular the digestive or cardiovascular systems.
It is necessary to review your own diet , and also make meals more frequent to improve your metabolism. Many smokers have a decreased appetite due to receptor contamination, resulting in fewer meals. To restore the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, and therefore get rid of plaque, it is recommended to adhere to a healthy, proper diet, and try to minimize the intake of alcohol, sweet soda, coffee and coloring products.
In medical practice, problems with the appearance of sediment on the tongue are often associated with problems of the cardiovascular system caused by prolonged smoking. So if a person takes a drag from a cigarette, then a sharp spasm of blood vessels occurs in his body, and they begin to narrow. Severe narrowing leads to the collapse of the walls of the vessel, and it stops letting blood through.
If the vessel collapses at the tip of the tongue, the body will not be able to provide blood supply to this place and the cells will gradually begin to die. The process leads to the formation of an ulcer with clear boundaries. To avoid problems with the cardiovascular system, it is necessary to undergo an examination by a cardiologist as a preventative measure.
Modern medicine is able to cure this problem in the early stages without surgical intervention. The main thing is to consult a doctor in a timely manner.
Smoker's plaque: photo
The photo shows examples of the tongue of a healthy person and smokers:
Healthy tongue
How to get rid of plaque?
You can fight the coating on your tongue from smoking.
To do this, you need to monitor oral hygiene and brush your teeth, cheeks and tongue daily .
The following products can be used to clean the mouth :
- Toothbrush.
- Tea spoon.
- Gauze or bandage wrapped around a finger.
- A special scraper for removing plaque, which can be bought at a pharmacy.
- Special toothpaste for smokers.
Vegetable oil is also used to cleanse the tongue .
Preferably olive or flaxseed, since these types of oils not only help remove plaque, but also care for the oral mucosa.
They have antifungal and antibacterial properties, and also heal microtraumas.
Need to know! The procedure for cleansing the oral cavity with oil is carried out in the morning before breakfast.
To do this, you need to pour one tablespoon of oil into your mouth and dangle it there for at least ten minutes. After which the oil is spat out.
The effect of smoking on dental health
In the production of cigarettes, nicotine, tar, and chemical components are used, which settle in the micropores of the teeth, clog them and gradually change their shade from white to yellow and brown. The more a person smokes, the worse their teeth look. Nicotine and other substances in cigarettes disrupt blood circulation in the oral cavity and create favorable conditions for the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms. Long-term smoking greatly weakens local immunity, thereby contributing to the development of not only caries, but also gingivitis, stomatitis and diseases of the ENT organs.
First, a yellow coating appears on a smoker’s teeth, mainly near the necks of the teeth, where stone most often forms.
Over time, brown plaque forms on teeth. They contain a large number of cariogenic microorganisms that produce acid and destroy tooth enamel.
This is why plaque on teeth after smoking cannot be ignored. If you cannot get rid of it at home, you need to seek help from a dentist. Statistics speak volumes about the impact of smoking on oral health: 40% of smokers aged 60-65 years are forced to use dentures due to the absence of most of their teeth.
What should be done to prevent plaque?
Prevention includes daily oral hygiene .
For preventive purposes, you can use mouthwashes with antibacterial properties .
Rinsing with a decoction of chamomile, sage and oak , as well as chewing propolis, are useful. These agents have a strong antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effect.
Rinsing with soda solution also gives a good effect.
Can smoking cause tongue cancer?
When smoking, the tongue is the first organ to take the blow in the form of hot tobacco smoke, which contains many toxic substances.
With such regular and frequent attacks, the oral cavity and tongue receive injuries in the form of burns .
As a result, small nodules appear , as well as other neoplasms, which over time have the ability to degenerate into cancer.
Primary and secondary signs
You should know! Cancer of the uvula is poorly diagnosed, since clear symptoms of the disease appear only in the later stages.
It is worth noting that this type of cancer develops quickly and causes many serious complications.
Symptoms of the initial stage of the disease are almost invisible.
The insidiousness of the disease lies in the fact that there are no obvious signs until the late stages of the disease begin .
Usually it all starts with the appearance of an ulcer , compaction or nodules on the tongue .
At the early stage of a malignant neoplasm, the boundaries of the nodules that appear on the tongue are clearly defined.
Later, as the disease progresses, the boundaries of such formations become more blurred, the tissue under the ulcer thickens , and its edges rise and resemble a roller in appearance.
Later, pain, swelling of the face, and difficulty opening the mouth and eating appear.
Classification of cancer of this organ by localization:
Uvula body cancer
This type of cancer is the most common .
Know! A malignant tumor affects the middle part and can often affect its lateral areas.
Tongue root cancer
If the root of this organ is affected when swallowing, severe pain is felt in its area .
This type of cancer is less common than its previous type.
The disease also has another name - oropharyngeal cancer , in which the tumor is located in the posterior parts of the oral cavity.
The pathology has an aggressive course and is difficult to treat.
Cancer of the lower part of the tongue
With this pathology, the tumor is located on the lower part of the uvula. In rare cases, it may be located under the tongue.
Note! Histological differentiation of cancer types:
- Adenocarcinoma;
- Squamous cell carcinoma.
There are three main types of tongue cancer tumors :
- Ulcerative. This form begins with a lump that appears on the tongue, which soon becomes an ulcer. The patient experiences pain and the ulcer bleeds.
- Infiltrative. The new growth that appears is hard to the touch. Its surface is covered with whitish spots. The patient experiences severe pain in this area.
- Papillary. The neoplasm is hard, has dense plaques and protrudes above the surrounding healthy tissue.
