In the Mouth, Smoking Zaps Healthy Bacteria
“When you compare a smoker and nonsmoker, there’s a distinct difference,” said Kumar. “The first thing you notice is that the basic ‘lawn,’ which would normally contain thriving populations made of a just few types of helpful bacteria, is absent in smokers.”
The team found that for nonsmokers, bacterial communities regain a similar balance of species to the communities that were scraped away during cleaning. Disease-associated bacteria are largely absent, and low levels of cytokines show that the body is not treating the helpful biofilms as a threat.
“By contrast,” said Kumar, “smokers start getting colonized by pathogens-bacteria that we know are harmful-within 24 hours. It takes longer for smokers to form a stable microbial community, and when they do, it’s a pathogen-rich community.”
Smoking, Dental Health And Gums
The most serious connections between smoking, dental health and tooth loss aren’t necessarily related to the tooth itself-most of them originate in the gums. Bacteria and inflammation deep down between the tooth and gum contribute to gum disease and bone loss. Smoking makes every stage of this problem worse.
First, smoking decreases blood flow and oxygen delivery to the gums. This slows healing times, compromising the body’s ability to fight bacteria and recover from stress, damage and inflammation. Small battles being fought below the surface of the gums, at the root of the tooth, are less likely to end in victory for a smoker.
Smoking also compromises immunity, so disease resistance is lower in smokers. Once harmful bacteria gain a foothold, the body has fewer defenses to hold them off.
Smoking And Dental Hygiene
Smoking and dental care aren’t incompatible. If you aren’t ready to quit smoking, dental health care is something you should take seriously. Consider flossing and using an antiseptic mouth rinse at least twice a day, in addition to brushing with an electric toothbrush. In addition to combating stains, this helps your gums fight bacteria in the space between the tooth and gums. This clean, fresh feeling may provide yet another incentive to quit smoking.
If you haven’t yet quit smoking or aren’t ready to quit, ask your dentist to check your mouth for lumps, leukoplakia and discoloration, which may be early signs of cancer. Smoking vastly increases the risk of mouth, tongue and throat cancer.
Smokers also have higher levels of cytokines, indicating that the body is mounting defenses against infection. Clinically, this immune response takes the form of red, swollen gums-called gingivitis-that can lead to the irreversible bone loss of periodontitis.
In smokers, however, the body is not just trying to fight off harmful bacteria. The types of cytokines in smokers’ gum swabs showed the researchers that smokers’ bodies were treating even healthy bacteria as threatening.
Although they do not yet understand the mechanisms behind these results, Kumar and her team suspect that smoking is confusing the normal communication that goes on between healthy bacterial communities and their human hosts.