If you’re in charge of charts and posters for health in your office, school, or other environment, you’ll probably go through quite a few possible health education products. You’ll see the brain with skull, the anatomical chart digestive system, the exercise calorie chart, and the childrens portion plate. One poster you shouldn’t neglect, especially if you’re trying to educate and affect the choices of children, is smokers mouth.
How Smoking Affects the Mouth
A lot is said about how smoking affects the lungs and heart, but we shouldn’t neglect the tragedy of smokers mouth. Smoking ruins the human mouth. It stains teeth and fillings in ways that are almost impossible to clean. It keeps us from being able to smell or taste properly and gives us terrible breath that can become a social concern. Much worse, smokers mouth is really about the diseases and conditions that smoking contributes to.
- Smokers mouth includes melanosis and smokers palate. These are both discolorations of the mouth brought on by smoking. Melanosis appears as brown spots inside the mouth, while smokers palate is where the palate turns white and develops red spots at the opening of each gland’s duct.
- Smokers mouth can bring on coated tongue, oral thrush, and gum disease. One of the effects of smoking is the layer that builds up on the tongue, capturing particles of food, bacteria, and other debris. This, in turn, can lead to thrush, a type of fungal infection, and to gum disease and decay of the teeth. Smokers are 2.5 to 3.5 times more likely to get gum disease than other people, and when they do they are likely to lose more of their teeth as a result.
- Smokers mouth can also include oral cancer. Whether from irritants, toxins, or changes in the immune response of the body, smoking is also a major contributor to incidents of oral cancer. There are many studies that show a much higher risk of oral cancer in smokers than in nonsmokers, and a significant drop in risk when smoking stops. Combining alcohol with smoking actually seems to increase the risk, and experts estimate that 75% to 90% of all cancer of the mouth is due to a combination of alcohol abuse and smoking.
How Smokers Mouth Posters Can Help
Children especially are open to new things. This is one of the reasons they are willing to start smoking when a friend or family member introduces it to them. But information goes both ways and helping someone understand the dangers and issues surrounding smokers mouth is an effective way to empower a person to say no to the temptation of smoking.
There are many posters and charts that can help children and adults learn. About 65% of students are estimated to be primarily visual learners, so the effect of health education posters can be great. When you consider what aspects of human health you want to focus on, don’t forget to warn against the dangers of smoking and smokers mouth.
