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Category: Smoking Cessation

The Crucial Role of Dentists: Smoking Cessation in Sutton

As a trusted dental practice, here at Benhill Dental Practice, we are not just about filling cavities and cleaning teeth. We play a critical part in your overall health, including the journey towards smoking cessation Sutton. Smoking has significant implications for dental health. However, many individuals are unaware of the oral health risks associated with smoking. Therefore, we take it upon ourselves to educate our patients about these risks, serving as a catalyst in their choice to quit smoking. By providing both support and solutions, we empower our patients in their smoking cessation journey. This commitment to holistic health care is what sets us apart and allows us to contribute to a healthier, smoke-free Sutton.

Understanding the Damage: How Smoking Impacts Dental Health

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At Benhill Dental Practice, we believe in the power of knowledge. Understanding the damage caused by smoking on dental health is the first step towards smoking cessation. Patients who smoke may suffer from gum disease, tooth loss, and even oral cancer. Moreover, smoking can lead to dental plaque, tooth discolouration, and persistent bad breath. It can also reduce the success rate of dental procedures and slow healing after oral surgery. By illuminating these risks, we aim to encourage our patients to consider the benefits of quitting smoking, thus protecting their oral health and overall wellbeing. This approach is essential to our commitment to promoting a healthier lifestyle in Sutton.

Our Approach to Smoking Cessation at Benhill Dental Practice

Our approach to smoking cessation at Benhill Dental Practice is focused on support, understanding, and a personalised treatment plan. We understand that quitting smoking can be a challenging journey, which is why we are here to help our patients every step of the way. We assist by providing resources and advice on managing cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Additionally, we closely monitor our patients’ oral health and utilise various treatments to repair and protect their teeth and gums from the damaging effects of smoking. By taking this comprehensive and tailored approach, we aid in the process of smoking cessation. Sutton locals can trust in our dedication to their health, supporting them towards a healthier, smoke-free lifestyle.

The Power of Prevention: Regular Check-ups and Smoking Cessation

Prevention is at the heart of our practice at Benhill Dental Practice. Regular check-ups not only help in maintaining oral hygiene but also play a pivotal role in smoking cessation. During these appointments, we conduct thorough examinations to identify any early signs of oral health issues related to smoking. This early detection allows us to take prompt action, preventing further damage. Providing such vigilant care, we reaffirm our commitment to our patients’ wellbeing. By placing an emphasis on regular check-ups, we not only extend our support for smoking cessation Sutton but also contribute to an enhanced understanding of the importance of dental health in our community.

Join Us in the Journey Towards a Smoke-Free Sutton

At Benhill Dental Practice, we invite you to join us in the journey towards smoking cessation. Sutton residents can rely on our unwavering support in their struggle against smoking. We stand by you, providing expert care and guidance, helping you navigate through this challenging, yet rewarding journey. And it’s not just about your oral health. It’s about amplifying your overall wellbeing and embracing a healthier future. Together, we can contribute to a smoke-free Sutton – enhancing not just our lives but also enriching our community. Your decision to quit smoking could be the stepping stone towards a healthier Sutton. Let us begin this journey together.

Stained teeth

Are you self-conscious about stains on your teeth? Maybe you are wondering whether there is anything that can be done to remove the stains and/or help prevent further staining in the future. If this is something that you can relate to, then you are not alone. Here at Benhill Dental Practice, we offer several different treatments that can help with this. To find the most suitable method to meet your unique needs, we must first understand the cause of the staining on your teeth.

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Of course, many factors can contribute to staining, including illness, food or drink-induced staining, smoking and even ageing. Depending on the cause of your staining, we may offer one of the following treatments.

Boutique whitening

Boutique whitening is a professional whitening treatment directed by a qualified dentist. It can be undertaken at home, and you can choose between whitening during the day or night, depending on what is most suited to your lifestyle. A gradual change can be seen after a few days, with the optimum results happening around 3 weeks into treatment.

Composite veneers

Composite veneers are predominantly (but not exclusively) used when other methods of teeth whitening have been exhausted. Veneers are thin pieces of porcelain, coloured like natural teeth, that can be bonded on top of your existing teeth. If only one tooth is stained, the shade of veneer can be chosen to lighten its appearance to achieve a close match to the surrounding teeth.

Smoking cessation

Although smoking cessation Sutton may not address stains that are already present, if you are a smoker, then choosing to quit could prevent further staining from occurring due to this habit.

Are there dental benefits to quitting smoking?

In a nutshell, yes! There are several benefits to quitting smoking, which you may not be aware of. Of course, as dental professionals, we need to discuss with our patients the risks created by smoking. At Benhill Dental Practice, we are proud to offer smoking cessation Sutton, helping patients to quit smoking and offering support throughout the process. When you attend regular dental appointments, we can offer you ongoing advice as to how to create or continue with healthy oral habits. It is likely that soon after quitting smoking, you will begin to notice changes in your oral health.

Some of the problems caused by smoking include being more prone to infections due to the effect that tobacco has on gum tissue cells. Bad breath, mouth sores (and poor healing thereof), decreased senses of smell and taste and hairy tongue can also be associated with smoking. Maybe most importantly: smoking is one of the leading causes of mouth cancer. By evaluating these issues caused by smoking, we can immediately understand the benefits that smoking cessation Sutton can have. By stopping smoking you can help to reduce the risk of these problems emerging. If some of these things are already present in your case, then quitting may help reduce their symptoms, and our dentist will be happy to discuss with you practices you can put into place to improve your overall oral health.

The effects of smoking on dental health

Smoking is a lifestyle choice that can have a significant detrimental effect on your overall well-being. The systemic effects of smoking are well-known and clearly indicated on tobacco products; however, despite warnings and restrictions, smoking continues to be a popular lifestyle choice throughout the world, dating back to the last four centuries. It is a highly addictive habit that can affect multiple organ systems and result in numerous tobacco-related diseases. Most people are aware of smoking-induced lung cancer and heart disease; however, smoking can affect all parts of your body in different ways, including your dental health.

To begin with, smoking can result in tooth staining and bad breath. Nicotine and tar can stain your teeth very quickly in a short amount of time, resulting in stubborn yellow stains that do not disappear with brushing alone. Bacterial plaque is also more prevalent in smokers, and over time, this can lead to the formation of tartar, which can form cavities in your teeth, resulting in tooth decay and even tooth loss. Smoking also reduces the amount of oxygen that circulates your body, and this can weaken your gums, making them more susceptible to disease. If you continue to smoke, you will be at a higher risk of having serious complications that are often irreversible; however, with smoking cessation Sutton, you can reduce the impact of smoking on your body sooner rather than later.

Here at Benhill Dental Practice, we will give you plenty of advice and guidance on smoking cessation Sutton. Your dental health is our priority, and our professional advice is that with smoking cessation Sutton, you can stop smoking gradually and successfully restore your dental health and overall well-being with time and effort.

Oral cancer from smoking

Smoking is one of the main causes of oral cancer, and each year several thousands of people are affected by smoking-induced oral cancer. This may begin as a small tumour in your mouth, either on your tongue, gums or on the inside of your cheeks. If you suffer from oral ulcers that are painful and persistent or find lumps in your mouth that are also persistent, then you have to visit our dentist as early as possible to prevent further complications in the future. Unfortunately, oral cancer can cause significant complications, but with smoking cessation, you can help prevent oral cancer from occurring or, if you are already suffering from cancer, prevent it from recurring.

If oral cancer is detected early on, then it can be treated successfully and with fewer complications and effects on other parts of your body. Therefore, here at Benhill Dental Practice, we offer oral cancer screening to make sure that you have good oral health and are free from any signs or symptoms of oral cancer. We recommend that you visit our dentist annually for your oral cancer screening, and we also hope that you visit us very soon to find out more about smoking cessation. Let us work with you to achieve a healthier lifestyle and better well-being.

Benhill Dental Practice can help with Smoking Cessation in Sutton!

Are you concerned about how your teeth look? Are they looking stained or are you developing bad breath? If you are a smoker, what you may not realise is how smoking can affect your oral hygiene. At Benhill Dental Practice, we want to help you with smoking cessation in Sutton. We know that it is difficult and that you may have had a bit of ‘stick’ of friends and family about giving up to the point where you don’t want to think about it anymore (the ostrich method can be a firm favourite – stick that head in the sand) but we really do believe that it is important for your health to try and quit. We understand that this isn’t easy, but we have lots of support available; it is important that you have regular checkups with us to monitor your oral health.

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What are the dental issues that can arise from smoking?

A lot of people don’t realise that smoking is the main cause of mouth cancer. In fact, every year, thousands of people die from this type of cancer and while it isn’t a pleasant thought, through smoking cessation in Sutton, you can avoid this happening to you if you put your mind to it and stop smoking. We can offer a lot of advice and support on ways to do this when you come to visit us here at Benhill Dental Practice.

Other issues that can also arise from smoking, which may not be as serious but can have a detrimental impact on your self-esteem and well-being are numerous. Tobacco products can be responsible for causing you to have a reduced sense of taste and smell. Also, tobacco can cause your gum tissue cells to be affected and become more prone to periodontal diseases and infections. Perhaps surprisingly, you can also suffer from jawbone loss and shrinking gums, as well as mouth sores which can be difficult to heal, alongside a hairy tongue. Needless to say, the effects of smoking on your oral hygiene don’t sound great and they can be serious if left untreated.

How we can help

While we can’t wave a magic wand to help you stop smoking, we do have a lot of advice about how to quit and most importantly, we can explain in more detail the risks to your mouth if you don’t. Keeping an eye on your mouth is extremely important when you are a smoker; we have the expertise to identify issues you may not be aware of yourself and we can help to treat those problems. We understand that you don’t need to be preached to, so we won’t be trying any of that either! We just want to ensure that your mouth is as healthy as possible with regular checkups and treatment as required.

For further information about how we can help, why not book in for a consultation where we can discuss your individual situation and you can ask as many questions as you need to. We are here to listen to you and advise you accordingly. If you want to book in, our friendly reception staff are ready to take your call, so don’t delay!

Need help with smoking cessation? 3 reasons to come to Benhill Dental Practice to help kick the habit

Chances are, if you are a smoker, you are probably fed up to your back teeth with healthcare professionals lecturing you on the health benefits of giving up. While giving up smoking is a great step towards improving your overall health, it is considered one of the hardest things to do without the correct help.

smoking-cessation-suttonStatistically, people who have help from multiple healthcare professionals are more successful in quitting this habit and have better long term outcomes thanks to medical intervention.

It may seem strange to approach a dental professional when you are trying to quit smoking, but remember, smoking impacts on your oral health too and so many dental surgeries are now offering help to their patients.

At Benhill Dental Practice, our team is proud to be able to offer smoking cessation in Sutton and are eager to provide advice and support to our patients who are wanting to give up smoking for good!

So, what are the benefits of attending Benhill Dental Practice for help with smoking cessation in Sutton? Read on to find out!

Referrals and advice

As previously mentioned, when you choose to give up smoking, you are more likely to succeed long term with appropriate medical help and advice. Our dental team, who specialise in smoking cessation in Sutton, can refer you to external stop smoking centres or groups if required, and provide you with targeted advice on the best ways to give up smoking in a non judgemental way.

We are aware that while there is a physical addiction to manage, there may be an underlying psychological aspect too. If this is the case, we can advise you on how to manage both and provide you with information about local counselling groups.

Open communication

After we have assessed your mouth, we will highlight to you the concerns we may have and break them down for you in a jargon free manner. We will not use shock tactics to scare you into quitting but will talk you through the benefits and explain how stopping smoking will improve any dental issues that we may have identified. Our team will also explore your reasons for wanting to quit and provide you with the motivation you need when you are feeling overwhelmed.

Very Brief Advice or VBA

As mentioned earlier, you have probably heard a million times from healthcare professionals the health benefits of giving up smoking and the dangers of not doing so. Research shows that long, drawn out lectures have no impact on an individual’s ability to quit smoking, so cessation teams in dental surgeries are now implementing the ‘Very Brief Advice’ or VBA tactic.

This consists of a member of our team highlighting the issues associated with smoking in an informative, non-judgemental manner and then signposting you to appropriate services, all in under 30 seconds! By not making a big thing out of your smoking habit and leaving the ball in your court so to speak, you are more likely to contact external cessation services or attend our surgery for further help and advice.

And now a tax on vaping too

Many people have managed their nicotine and smoke addiction by moving from now super-expensive tobacco to cheaper vaping syrups. But at the end of October budget, the chancellor, Phillip Hammond, decided to tax vaping as well.

Smoking Cessation in SuttonMaybe that’s a good thing. Vaping was once thought to be pretty harmless, but research shows that it causes a nasty condition called popcorn lung. Also vape syrups are full of sugar, just as most tobaccos are. Sugar is now not classed as just empty calories, but the driver behind the nation’s diabetes crisis. So, even if you are super careful about not eating sugar, if you smoke or vape, you are still getting a pretty substantial sugar hit every time you indulge.

Smoking is really bad for your teeth and mouth, and vaping, with all that sugar, isn’t exactly great either. If you want to hang onto your teeth, and avoid gum disease and other nasties such as oral cancer, then maybe now is the time to stop the whole nicotine merry-go-round and get some help with smoking cessation from us at Benhill Dental Practice in Sutton.

If you’d like to know more about what smoking does to your mouth, we’d be more than happy to tell you. We can also support you with giving up smoking.

Smoking and mouth cancer

Let’s be clear, smoking is the main cause of mouth cancer. And if you drink alcohol when you smoke, you are even more likely to get mouth cancer. Mouth cancer is caused by changes in the cells in the mouth, which then start grow out of control. Carcinogens get into the cells when you smoke, and get in even more easily when they have been dissolved into alcohol if you are smoking and drinking.

You are likely to develop mouth cancer in your 50s and 60s and early 70s. Tumours can grow on any soft tissue in your mouth, and also in your head and neck. Mouth cancer screenings can check for tumours in just a few minutes. Treated early, mouth cancer is easily dealt with, either with surgery or other therapies.

It’s time to quit

Deciding to stop smoking is probably one of the best decisions you can make for your health, and your dentist can increase your chances of success hugely. With the help of your dentist in Sutton, smoking cessation will play a key role in protecting your oral and overall health.

At Benhill Dental Practice, our dentists help patients quit smoking by offering personal support and encouragement. Our dentists can also prescribe stop-smoking medications where helpful, and will happily explain the oral and overall health benefits of quitting smoking as soon as possible.

Smoking Cessation in SuttonCan I do it alone?

It may come as a surprise to hear, but four out of 10 smokers will attempt to quit their smoking habit during the course of a year, but the withdrawal symptoms of nicotine can be so severe that many will fail on their first attempt and will return to their previous smoking habits.

Nicotine addiction involves both psychological and physical factors. This means that smoking cessation intervention will require a systematic approach in order to succeed. This involves assessing our patients’ readiness, motivating their health behaviour changes and developing a co-operative treatment plan.

How can a dentist help?

We believe our dentists are in a unique position to intervene early on because they can literally see the damage smoking can do to the mouth and surrounding areas. Smoking is associated with mouth cancer and our dentists can detect early changes, such as lesions, that may appear because of oral cancers.

As experts in oral health, our highly trained dentists can easily spot the damage tobacco does to the mouth and teeth. Smokers will also tend to suffer from bad breath, stained teeth and even a dry mouth.

People who smoke are also three times more likely than non-smokers to have severe gum disease. Fortunately, oral diseases associated with smoking are more obvious to the eye than other conditions. This can give our dentists an advantage over other health-care professionals in identifying patients who could be at risk because of smoking, and puts us in a good position to encourage the conversation about quitting this deadly habit.

What is smoking cessation?

Smoking cessation is the process a person completes in order to quit smoking tobacco. According to studies, 70% of people who smoke tobacco would like to quit and 50% have tried to quit in the last 12 months. Smoking is the leading cause of death in the world where the death could have been prevented. It greatly affects health and drastically increases the chances of heart disease and lung cancer.

smoking-cessation-in-suttonDentists and smoking cessation

Dentists can now play a major role in helping people to quit smoking. Dentists see people affected by smoking constantly, can see the negative effects it has in their patients’ mouths and they know that a lot of patients will trust their advice. At Benhill Dental Practice we offer smoking cessation in Sutton to our patients; it’s important that as dentists we advise you of the risks related to smoking tobacco and support you with regards to quitting. Oral health is greatly benefitted when tobacco use is minimised and you will notice some positive changes. It’s important for you to a check in at the clinic often so you can receive support and information from a dental professional.

The damage smoking does to your mouth

Smoking tobacco has a very bad effect on teeth and gums and tobacco chemicals make smokes more receptive to getting gum disease. Benhill Dental Practice offer our patients in Sutton smoking cessation as patients come to the practice regularly with dental health problems associated with smoking. Some of these problems are: sores in the mouth, bad breath, teeth stains and a hairy tongue. In addition to these problems, tobacco smoking is the number one cause of cancer in the mouth and it causes numerous deaths each year.

We provide smoking cessation in Sutton to patients needing advice and assistance. The practice has fully trained advisers to help you throughout your journey to quit smoking, supporting you from beginning to end. To find out more information about smoking cessation in Sutton, or to make an appointment with a trained adviser, please do not hesitate to contact the clinic. With the right help and support, you could quit smoking for good.

Smoking Cessation

As well as being bad for your health in general, smoking tobacco products such as cigarettes, pipes or cigars has negative effects on your dental health. Smoking affects the gum tissue cells, which means that smokers are more likely to develop gum and periodontal diseases.

smoking cessationSmoking also stains the teeth and can cause bad breath, shrinking gums, sores in the mouth and even jaw bone loss. It is also the lead cause of mouth cancer, which kills about 2,700 people in the UK every year and has a high proportion of number of deaths per number of cases diagnosed, because of late diagnosis.

Many people who smoke would like to give up, or at least cut down. At Benhill Dental Practice we understand how difficult this can be, which is why we offer a smoking cessation service to help those interested in quitting or cutting down to reach their goal.

There are many products available to help you cut down or give up smoking. It’s important to find the best product or products to suit your personal needs and lifestyle, and our smoking cessation service can help you find the best option. Many of these products help to reduce nicotine cravings by delivering nicotine in another way.

Choices include:

  • Nicotine patches – heavy smokers may benefit by staring out with a 24-hour patch
  • Inhalators – these resemble plastic cigarettes and enable you to inhale nicotine
  • Nicotine chewing gum
  • Lozenges or strips – placed under the tongue to combat nicotine cravings
  • Mouth and nasal sprays

The best option for you will depend on your individual needs, and we will be able to help you discover what may work well for you. Some patients find it beneficial to combine two or more options to help them kick the habit for good.

To find out how we can help you to give up or cut down on smoking, get in touch with a member of our team today.