Smoking and Gum Disease

Gum disease is one of the most common dental issues in the UK and around the world, and smokers are around twice as likely to get it as non-smokers. It’s an infection of the gums and the bone surrounding your teeth, which over time leads to the tissue and bone breaking down and may cause tooth loss.

It’s caused by plaque, which is the name for a mixture of saliva and the bacteria in your mouth. As well as causing the gum irritation and inflammation that characterises gum disease, plaque also directly impacts your teeth, leading to tooth decay.

When you consume food containing a lot of sugar or starch, the bacteria process the carbohydrates it contains for energy. This process creates acid as a by-product. If you don’t keep your teeth clean, this acid eventually impacts your tooth’s surface and causes decay. But plaque contains a lot of different bacteria, and some of these directly irritate your gums too.

So while one of the consequences of plaque build-up is more relevant for gum disease, both lead to problems with your teeth and smokers are more likely to suffer both consequences than non-smokers. The effects smoking has on your immune system mean that if a smoker gets a gum infection resulting from plaque build-up, his or her body is less likely to be able to fight it off. In addition, when damage is done as a result of the build-up of plaque, the impact of smoking on wound healing makes it more difficult for your gums to heal themselves.

Over time, if you don’t treat gum disease, spaces can start to open up between your gums and your teeth. This problem gets worse as more of the tissues break down, and eventually can lead to your teeth becoming loose or even falling out.

Overall, smokers have twice the risk of periodontal disease compared to non-smokers, and the risk is bigger for people who smoke more and who smoke for longer. On top of this, the problem is less likely to respond well when it gets treated.