Bad Breath or Nasty Tastes
Your healing senses of smell and taste may find the aromas and flavors being released from healing lungs or oozing from toxin marinated gums and mouth tissues disgusting.
Guess what? This is what it was like inside our mouths every day while still using. Imagine kissing an ashtray. It was just that our senses were so dulled by tobacco toxins that we couldn't notice.
Picture the consequences upon taste buds and olfactory bulbs after years of daily inhaling thousands of tobacco chemicals, hundreds toxic to tissues, and scores capable of causing cancer. Is it any wonder that this deadly cocktail dulled, inflamed, damaged, mutated, pickled, or killed all it touched, including speech, thyroid, and cilia cells?
Amazingly, repair of smell and taste perception begins immediately upon cessation and often becomes noticeable within 7 days[1].
A three-pack-a-day smoker, shortly after breaking free I started noticing a metallic taste that lingered for more than a month. Picture layer after layer of cells slowing dying and being replaced. Depending upon how long, often, and intensely we used tobacco, it could take significant time for nasty tastes and odors to fully dissipate.
But a metallic taste can also be a symptom of more serious health conditions, too. Like putting a new battery in a smoke detector, enhanced senses of smell and taste can act as alarms warning us of sensations previously missed. If at all concerned, don't hesitate to call or email and share what you're noticing with your health care provider.
Time, oxygen-rich blood, and plenty of fluids will keep mouth, nasal, throat, and respiratory tissues on the road to maximum recovery. Brushing a bit more often and mouthwash should help control odors released from slowly healing tissues.
Bleeding Gums
Gum bleeding is not unusual during recovery. Aside from the impact of brisk and frequent brushing that attempts to whiten tar stained teeth, our gums are experiencing the blessings of tobacco and nicotine-free living.
Surprisingly, like never-users, the ex-user's gums are more prone to bleeding, not less. One study found that 4 to 6 weeks after smoking cessation that "bleeding on probing with a constant force probe increased from 16% of sites to 32% of sites, despite improvements in the subject's oral hygiene."[2]
Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor that actually constricts and diminishes blood flow. It's thought that this may account for smokers having thicker gum tissues.[3]
According to a 2004 study, the gingival (gum) blood flow rate is "significantly higher at 3 days" into recovery. Within 5 days the liquid sticky plasma proteins normally released by healthy gums have significantly increased, and within 2 weeks are comparable to those of non-smokers.[4]
But if it takes a bit of bleeding to begin gradually reversing the risk of experiencing 240% greater tooth loss than a non-smoker,[5] so be it. Call your dentist if at all concerned about gum bleeding.
Mouth Ulcers or Canker Sores
According to the Mayo Clinic, "canker sores, also called aphthous ulcers, are small, shallow lesions that develop on the soft tissues of your mouth or at the base of your gums. Unlike cold sores, canker sores don't occur on the surface of your lips and they aren't contagious."
Although normally not a concern as they quickly resolve without treatment, a bit of caution is warranted as a mouth ulcer that doesn't resolve could indicate mouth cancer.
Canker sores can be painful but they're not cancerous (malignant). If you have any sore in your mouth that doesn't heal within a week or two, have it examined by a physician as soon as possible. Don't delay (read Sean Marsee's shocking story at WhyQuit to see delay's potential consequences).
Joel Spitzer has conducted 325 two-week (13-day) stop smoking clinics involving more than 4,500 participants. According to Joel, "Sores in the mouth are a common side effect that is experienced by people after quitting. When I say common, I don't mean everyone gets them. Usually, if I have a group of 30 or so people, one or two will get the symptom and it usually happens in the second week after quitting." [6]
Although few studies have addressed them, a 2003 nicotine patch study found that roughly 1 in 10 participants experienced mouth ulcers within one to two weeks of quitting.[7]
All living cells convert dioxygen (O2) into toxic intermediates, including hydrogen peroxide. "In the mouth, there is a special need for defense against hydrogen peroxide, because hydrogen peroxide is not only formed by bacteria colonizing the mucous membranes but also by the cells of the salivary glands. In saliva, the most important part of this defense is salivary peroxidase, which detoxifies hydrogen peroxide ..." [8]
A 2015 study examined the relationship between salivary peroxidase, aphthous ulcers, and stress. It found that "decreased levels of peroxidase were found in individuals' with aphthous ulcers, while the same was increased when no lesions were found and also on a lower stress scale."[9]
Joel has an alternative explanation. "The way I had it described to me sometime back in the late '70s, was that certain anti-toxins were produced in the mouth in response to chemicals in cigarettes. When people would quit smoking, it took time for the body to know to stop producing the anti-toxins, and with these self-produced anti-toxins having nothing to work on, they themselves became primary irritants."
Authorities list a number of other potential causes, including accidentally biting the inside of your cheek or a sharp tooth, hard food, hormonal changes, eating certain foods (including chocolate, spicy foods, coffee, peanuts, almonds, strawberries, cheese, tomatoes, and wheat flour) and toothpaste containing sodium lauryl sulfate.[10].
References:
2. Nair P, Gingival bleeding on probing increases after quitting smoking, Journal of Clinical Periodontology, May 2003, Volume 30(5), Pages 435-437.
3. Villar CC et al, Smoking influences on the thickness of marginal gingival epithelium, Pesqui Odontol Bras. Jan-March 2003, Volume 17(1), Pages 41-45.
4. Morozumi T et al, Smoking cessation increases gingival blood flow and gingival crevicular fluid, Journal of Clinical Periodontology, April 2004, Volume 31(4), Pages 267-272.
5. Krall EA, Smoking, smoking cessation, and tooth loss, Journal of Dental Res351earch, October 1997, Volume 76(10), Pages 1653-1659.
6. Spitzer, J, February 28, 2002, Freedom, Post #9 to "How's your blood flow?"
7. Ussher M, et al, Increase in common cold symptoms and mouth ulcers following smoking cessation, Tobacco Control 2003; Volume 12, Pages 86-88
8. Carlsson J, Salivary peroxidase: an important part of our defense against oxygen toxicity, Journal of Oral Pathology, September 1987, Volume 16(8), Pages 412-416.
9. Kiran GC and Reginald BA, Aphthous ulcers, salivary peroxidase and stress: Are they related? Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Patholog, 2015 Jan-Apr, Volume 19(1), Pages 37-41
10. UK NHS, Mouth Ulcer, https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/mouth/mouth-ulcer as viewed on March 9, 2019
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