Smoking and smokeless tobacco use result in many serious health effects, including damage to your teeth and gums. One of the most common effects is receding gums. Seeing their bleeding, receding gums, and feeling the pain from smokeless tobacco use are often the reasons why people decide to quit using tobacco. Unfortunately, even quitting won’t bring back your lost gum tissue.

But there is a way to get your gums back after tobacco damaged them: nonsurgical gum rejuvenation can restore a youthful, healthy position to your gums.

How Tobacco Damages Your Gums

dreamstime_xs_10334098Tobacco is very bad for your gums, mostly because of the presence of nicotine, but also because of numerous other chemicals in the tobacco. First of all, nicotine restricts the blood flow to peripheral vessels in the body, such as your gums. With less blood, your gums have fewer resources to fight and thrive. This makes it more likely that any routine bumps, scrapes, or other injuries to your gums can result in receding gums.

Tobacco use also compromises your immune system, making it harder for your body to fight off the bacteria responsible for gum disease and tooth decay. This increases the risk that bacteria will damage your gums and cause them to recede.

Dry mouth is a common condition in smokers because cigarette smoking impacts your body’s ability to produce saliva. Saliva isn’t just water in your mouth, it’s a complex formula that nourishes and repairs gums and teeth while helping control oral bacteria.With less saliva, there’s more risk of receding gums.

Chewing tobacco, on the other hand, may be even worse than smoking for gums. Because of the direct contact between the tobacco and the gums, the gums can be irritated by all the chemicals in the tobacco, some of which are natural, others of which are added. This repeated irritation not only causes pain, but accelerates gum recession.

We Can Usually Restore Damaged Gums

If you have suffered receding gums as a result of tobacco use, we can use our nonsurgical gum rejuvenation technique to bring them back. However, that’s only if your gums have recovered from their injury and are healthy again. Otherwise, it’s likely that they will just recede again.

To learn whether you are a good candidate for gum rejuvenation in Beverly Hills, call 310-275-5325 or call (949) 551-5902 for help in Orange County.