The risks of the bad habit of smoking are not limited to the health of the gums and natural teeth: they also extend to dental implants. Let’s see why.
Smoking is a very bad habit shared by 24% of Italian adults, who smoke an average of 12 cigarettes a day, with a quarter of smokers getting through more than a packet. Every year in Italy 93,000 people die because of smoking. Just for comparison, from the start of the COVID pandemic (February 2020) to date, 167,000 people have died.
Smoking does not only attack the lungs and airways; it also has serious effects on the health of the mouth, gums and teeth, because of the toxicity of nicotine, which alters the microcirculation of the gum tissue, weakening the response to bacteria and favouring the onset of periodontitis. Another consequence is local vasoconstriction, which reduces the oxygen supply to the gums and therefore makes inflammation worse.
That’s not all: smoking affects how patients respond to treatment, slowing the healing of wounds after surgery and other procedures. This problem particularly affects smokers who need a dental implant, whose relative risk of implant failure is at least 4 times higher than that of non-smokers.
Tobacco also has long-term effects: combined with other unhealthy lifestyle habits, it puts the long-term survival of implants at risk by affecting the health of the tissues that support them. Let’s never forget that the success of implants is closely linked to caring for the periodontium.
Smokers can be considered suitable for implant surgery, but they are advised to cut down on cigarettes or, better still, to quit if they want their implants to be safer and longer-lasting, so their investment does not go up in smoke. Unfortunately, e-cigarette vapour is not as harmless as many people think either, as highlighted in this article.
If you are a heavy smoker and simply can’t quit, remember never to neglect your dental hygiene, and have frequent check-ups and professional dental cleanings with your dentist.
Credits: photo by Thomas Stephan on Unsplash
