Smoking Cessation
Consider these statistics:
- Roughly 45 million Americans smoke cigarettes today
- 1 in 5 will die of a smoking related illness
- A smoker is nearly four times as likely to develop heart disease than a non-smoker
- A smoker has more than double the risk of stroke
- Based on current smoking patterns, smoking related illnesses will kill 25 million of Americans alive today. Due to the effects of second hand smoke, many of these will be non-smokers!
- Smoking has been linked to tens of thousands of deaths and injuries in auto accidents and home fires.
For those of us in dentistry we can add the following:
- Smoking is one of the main causes of periodontal disease
- Smoking has been definitively linked to the failure of dental implants
- More oral cancers are related to smoking and the use of other tobacco products than any other single cause. In the U.S. one person dies every hour from oral cancer.
- Stain, heat and residue from smoking causes bad breath, gum recession, and discoloration of teeth, crowns and cosmetic dentistry
There are many approaches to smoking cessation: oral medications, patches, inhalers, hypnosis, group therapies and even a determined will. We are prepared to discuss your options and would be happy to work with your physician to design an approach that will give you the best chance of kicking the habit.