Can You Smoke With Dentures?

Smoking continues to be a popular habit around the globe. Conservative estimates point to roughly 20% of the world’s population smoking tobacco products with regularity. That breaks down to around one billion people puffing on a cigarette at least once a day. But is smoking with dentures a problem?

The downside to smoking is well-known and has been supported time and time again with documentation. Smoking is bad for your health. However, that doesn’t stop everyone. So, with this in mind, can you smoke with dentures? In this article, we discuss and highlight things that you should consider when smoking with dentures.

Can Smoking Damage Dentures?

It doesn’t matter what type of dentures you wear, whether they are complete or partial dentures, smoking will cause damage to them. Considering the initial cost of your false teeth, damaging them prematurely through smoking does not make sense.

If your dentist has requested that you stop smoking now that you have dentures, there are a few good reasons why that conversation has happened. Here is a look at common reasons why you should not be smoking with dentures.

Reason 1 – Smoking Can Make Dentures Uncomfortable To Wear

By now you should be used to the feeling of false teeth in your mouth. For some wearers, it takes time for the transition to where wearing dentures becomes second nature. However, smoking with dentures can cause irritations to the soft tissue within the mouth.

These irritations can result in inflamed, swollen, and sensitive skin. Regardless of how well your dentures fit, wearing them on irritated skin will become painful and could impact how you speak as well as your eating habits.

Reason 2 – Smoking Can Increase Bone Loss In Your Mouth

The jawbone starts to naturally shrink as you lose teeth. The shrinking action will change the shape of the jawbone over time. The process of relining dentures typically addresses this issue. However, for denture wearers who smoke, the changes to the jawbone take place faster.

This means that dentures will not fit properly for as long as they should. Instead of approximately five years of wear, smokers can expect to have their dentures relining as early as within the first year of wearing them.

Reason 3 – Smoking Can Stain Dentures

It is a well-known fact that smoking will cause staining with natural teeth. It only makes sense that the same thing applies to dentures. That is because the tar and additional chemicals contained in cigarettes can adhere to dentures in the same manner as real enamel. The results are the same as well – dentures will slowly take on a yellowish and brownish tint which will dull the look of your smile.

Reason 4 – Smoking Can Make Your Dentures Smell

The construction of today’s dentures is slightly porous. It is because of this that they can capture odors. Over time, this can be quite noticeable and is one of the main reasons why denture wearers are encouraged to follow a proper denture cleaning procedure to keep their false teeth clean and fresh smelling.

Tobacco smoke absorbed by dentures can result in a stale smell that will be noticed each time you open your mouth to speak or eat. Denture breath, which can be exacerbated by smoking, can become quite embarrassing.

What About Smoking And Dental Implants?

Smoking increases the chances of dental implant failure. A survey conducted that included 66 patients with dental implants followed them for five years. The goal of the study was to see how well the implants performed over that time frame. After five years, implants failed for 1.4% of the non-smokers and 15.8% of the smokers.

How To Remove Tobacco Stains From Dentures

As stated above, keeping your dentures clean should be part of your daily oral hygiene practices. For smokers, keeping your false teeth clean is an even bigger chore, but if you follow the steps below, you will be able to rid your dentures of tobacco stains and hopefully, you will stop smoking with dentures.

Step 1 – Stop Smoking

It can’t be stressed enough that the best way to keep your dentures from getting damaged from smoking is to quit smoking. Not only will it extend the life of your false teeth, but by stopping smoking, you will improve your health and extend your life as well.

Step 2 – Use Denture Cleaners

To effectively clean your dentures, you cannot use regular toothpaste. That is because toothpaste contains abrasives that can damage false teeth. Instead, look for cleaners/paste that is designed specifically for dentures. Your dentist may be able to recommend a brand, or your local pharmacist can help you find the right one to clean tough tobacco stains.

Step 3 – Soak

Be sure to soak your dentures in the correct cleaning solution for no less than the suggested time. These solutions take time to deep clean dentures including all the small crevices and places that you can’t normally get to with a brush or other cleaning utensils.

Step 4 – Brush

After soaking your dentures, give them a brushing with a soft-bristled toothbrush to get the balance of plaque and staining removed. Pay particular attention to the hard-to-reach places.

Step 5 – Rinse

The final step to removing smoking stains from dentures is to place them under running water to rinse them off. Do not use hot water as this may cause warping. Rinsing will help you to ensure that all cleaning solutions are completely washed off of your dentures before you place them back into your mouth.

In Conclusion

So, can you smoke with dentures? We all know that smoking is bad for your health, but as we have discussed above, it is also not good for your teeth. Whether they are your natural teeth, dentures, partial dentures or a dental implant, tobacco smoke will cause damage. The most obvious is the discoloration of your teeth. Other, more serious issues can be attributed to excessive tobacco use that will damage far more than your dentures. Stopping smoking with dentures is your best defense, however, for many smokers, this is not a practical solution. Reducing tobacco use may slow down the damage, but it won’t stop it completely.