Does Nicotine Weaken Dentures?
If you are a smoker or are in the midst of quitting, you might have questions. ‘does smoking weaken your dentures?’ or ‘Does Nicotine replacement therapy affect your dentures’. Either can be accurate just like it would for your natural teeth. Anything you do can affect the health of your smile if not maintained correctly. However, dentures are easier to maintain than natural teeth simply because they can be replaced, fixed, and taken out at night. But when it comes to oral health smoking is discouraged either way.
Smoking And Dentures
Cigarettes are terrible for your overall health and especially bad for your oral health. Smoking can cause all sorts of oral health conditions including oral cancer, gum disease, and other oral health problems. However, smoking with natural teeth stains the enamel. The same is true with dentures, overtime the tar and chemicals in cigarettes can stain the prosthetic teeth just like natural teeth.
Soaking your dentures every night and keeping them clean will maintain their natural colour. non-smokers will maintain their denture’s original look much longer.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy
If you are in the midst of quitting smoking and are worried about the effects of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products on your false teeth. Some options might be better than others to keep your teeth looking new and enhance the duration in which they are used.
- Nicotine Gum
Nicotine gum like other gum products can stick to your dentures making them harder to clean. therefore could cause some damage. The nicotine can also eventually stain your dentures but NRT is used as means to an end, instead of a constant flow of nicotine and chemicals you have with smoking. Hopefully, this product isn’t used long enough to cause an adverse effect on your dentures.
- Mouth Spray
The nicotine contained in the spray can eventually discolour your denture and may have a weakening effect. Yet again this may not be used for long enough to really have an adverse effect.
- Lozenges
Hard candy lozenges might not be the best option for nicotine replacement therapy. Because of the hardness of the candy, the acrylic could crack when bitten down. Or when chewing shards from the lozenges can split off which can cause damage to the mouth or denture.
The advantage you have with dentures over natural teeth is that you are able to take them out to prevent the adverse effect of some products you might want to use. Taking them out when using NRT products might be a better idea.
Nicotine And Weakening Dentures.
Smoking can speed up bone loss causing your dentures to shift. Loose dentures will lead to more denture repairs and the need for relines more frequently than non-smokers. The chemicals and tar found in cigarettes will eventually stain your dentures to a yellowish-brown colour. This will age your denture much faster – leading to more repairs and relines.