How Smoking Affects Your Braces

Our team of dentists at our practice near Newark is dedicated to orthodontics – creating beautifully straight smiles that are healthy as well as attractive. We often warn our patients of the dangers of smoking, but some are surprised to learn that the habit can have a negative effect on your clear braces, too. In this post, we’ll talk through how smoking affects invisible braces.

1. Staining

Just like smoking can stain your teeth, so it can stain your invisible braces. This is true of brands such as Invisalign, Damon and Quick Straight Teeth, amongst others. With Invisalign, you change aligners every few weeks, so they may not develop as dark a stain as other types, but with fixed appliances like Damon, once they’re stained, it will be difficult to remove – if possible at all.

Of course, it’s also possible to stain your teeth at the same time. While whitening might lift this, it might not remove it completely. Also, the staining may be irregular if you have a fixed appliance.

2. Oral health

Although not linked to the brace itself, smoking can affect the health of the mouth, teeth and gums, causing problems such as gum disease and even oral cancer. Gum disease could, in turn, affect the success of the braces, as it can lead to loose teeth and inflammation.

3. Treatment

The treatment itself can be affected by smoking, causing the process to be much more difficult and to take longer, too. All types of brace can be affected by this, and it’s worth bearing in mind that treatments such as Invisalign invisible braces, which carefully plot your teeth’s movements and create aligners accordingly,

Is vaping safer?

Vaping can be equally detrimental to your health – we’ve covered this in another recent post, but there are a few points we can help summarise here:

Vaping can cause a dry mouth, which means there’s no protective saliva to help combat bacteria in the mouth
E-cigarettes can affect your sense of taste and smell – much like smoking does
As well as irritating the mouth and throat, vaping can also cause the gums to become inflamed, which could result in future gum disease

How can I quit smoking/vaping?

The NHS has some great resources on doing just that, and our expert orthodontists here at our dental practice near Nottingham & Newark can also give tips and advice. For instance, chewing sugar-free gum could help curb cravings and keep your ‘mouth busy’, while if you’re the type to smoke and drink, cutting down on your alcohol intake could prevent you partaking.