Using marijuana - whether smoked or ingested - reduces the amount of saliva produced in the mouth due to its effects on the nervous system. Without sufficient saliva to wash away food and bacteria from the teeth and gums, xerostomia can cause bad breath and mouth sores.
Sores inside the mouth, in Chinese Medicine, may be related to pathology of the Spleen, the Stomach or the Heart. The mouth in general is the sensory organ that is related to the Spleen and in fact a branch of the Spleen meridian spreads out on the underside of the tongue. The tongue, especially the tip of the tongue, is related to the Heart. Chronic irritation, as occurs with smoking, can upset this balance, causing keratin to accumulate, particularly along the midline of the tongue. When the accumulation is not severe, the condition is called a coated tongue. A black hairy tongue occurs when the accumulation becomes severe, creating the appearance of hair 4.
A cracked tongue is a benign condition with multiple small but furrows, fissures or grooves visible on the dorsal of the tongue. The fissures or grooves vary in sizes and can either be deep or shallow and may be as deep as six millimeters. However, most fissures occur in the middle of the tongue. Patients who stop smoking often complain of aphthous (mouth) ulcers. This symptom is sometimes attributed to the use of smoking cessation medications, but little is known about it. We investigated the incidence, severity, and time course of mouth ulcers in abstaining smokers and the effect of different smoking cessation medications on the symptom.
Smoking is positively associated with oral thrush – in fact, it’s one of the main oral thrush causes in healthy adults. Tobacco smoke will dry your mouth, cause lesions to appear, and destroy the bacterial balance, thereby favoring nasty organisms such as candida albicans.
To better understand how smoking causes thrush, you first need to know how oral thrush appears.
How does thrush appear?
The reason why smoking causes oral thrush are easy to understand, once you know how candida albicans grows and develops.
Candida Albicans accounts for more than 50% of the oral candidiasis, and it’s the main pathogen – the infecting organism – involved in oral thrush.
The fungi is often part of the intestinal gut. So often, in fact, that about 70% of the population carries it in their intestinal flora. Though this figure may seem high, most of the time this type of candida is harmless, since it’s kept in check by the rest of the bacterial flora.
Aside from the gut, candida albicans is also present in the mouth. About 50% of the world’s population carries it and, again, it’s not usually dangerous.
The real problem comes when this organism grows to disproportionate numbers – a process known as candida overgrowth. This may be caused by a variety of factors, from a course of antibiotics to an imbalanced diet to bad oral hygiene. Several diseases also cause an increase in the population of candida albicans, such as AIDS, cancer, vaginal yeast infections and diabetes mellitus.
How does smoking cause thrush?
Tobacco smoke kills the beneficial bacteria in your mouth, thereby allowing the candida colonies to grow freely.
In fact, studies have shown that smoking causes a considerable amount of damage to the mouth tissue, while encouraging the candida colonies to grow, as a result of destroying much of the rest of the mouth flora.
Smoking is so closely associated with smoking, that it’s actually a stand-alone risk factor in patients suffering from HIV.
What can I do?
Stop smoking. If you’ve got oral thrush, smoking is the worst thing you could do.
As soon as you experience the first symptoms, consult your doctor and start treating your infection. Drugs such as Diflucan or Nystatin are pretty successful when it comes to treating thrush, and home remedies are also quite efficient.
Whatever you do, pay attention to your diet – you want to avoid sugar and yeast-rich foods, and eat plenty of probiotics, such as unsweetened yogurt.
Conclusion
Smoking is a serious risk factor for oral thrush: it damages the oral tissue, kills the beneficial organisms in your mouth, and helps spread the candida infection.
If possible, avoid smoking at all costs, especially if you’re experiencing thrush symptoms. Consult your doctor and start the treatment as soon as possible.
Resources
Learn the Danger Signs of Crack Cocaine Use
Crack cocaine is a harmful and addictive drug. When there is crack cocaine use, it’s only a matter of time before the use of the drug becomes apparent.
From showing signs of withdrawal such as a loss of appetite, anxiety, and mood disturbances to the effects that crack cocaine has on the physical body such as malnutrition, tooth decay, and abscesses, there are many warning signs that crack use is taking place.
If you or a loved one is in need of help with addiction, call 949-239-7557 today to speak with a treatment specialist.
According to the 2018 US survey conducted each year to assess drug use among other things, there were an estimated 757,000 current users of crack cocaine, based on past-month use.
The more a person partakes in crack cocaine use, the higher their chance is of becoming addicted. Once a physical addiction sets in, treatment at a professional center such as Dana Point Rehab Campus is often the best and sometimes the only way to overcome the physical and mental dependence on crack cocaine.
How to Spot Crack and Accompanying Drug Paraphernalia
Crack cocaine is a more potent version of cocaine. It resembles small rocks with an off-white color and may appear to be crystalline. The rocks will have a numbing sensation on the tongue.
Crack is smoked. The heat produces vapors that are inhaled, and the name “crack” comes from the popping sound the drug makes when heated with a flame. The drug may be sprinkled onto other substances such as marijuana or tobacco and then smoked, which would appear as white-like crystals scattered inside the rolled smoke.
Some of the common items used to smoke crack include the following:
• Straws and tin foil: The drug is heated from underneath the tin foil and then inhaled via the straw.
• Glass pipes and light bulbs: You may find broken light bulbs which are used as a makeshift device to heat the crack, or find glass smoking pipes.
• Aluminum cans: Finding an aluminum can that has burn marks can indicate crack cocaine use. The can will have holes in it as well as indents.
• Filters: In order to keep the crack in place, steel wool, copper gauze, or faucet aerators (to mesh part of a faucet) are often used.
The Immediate Effects of Crack Cocaine Use
One of the ways that you can tell if someone is using crack is by observing their behavior and the physical effects of cocaine. While the effects that cocaine has on a person may vary based on their biology, the strength of the drug, and how much they took, the following signs can indicate that there is crack use taking place:
• Anxiety
• Seizures
• Short-lived euphoria lasting about 10-30 minutes
• A craving to use more
• An increase in their body temperature
• Paranoia
Sore Tongue On One Side
• Dilated pupils
• Loss of appetite
• Unusual sleeping patterns
• High blood pressure and heart rate
• Hallucinations including feeling “bugs” crawling under their skin
What Can Cause Tongue Sores
• Muscle twitches
• Nosebleeds
• Blisters and burns on the lips
• Restlessness
Intervention and Treatment
What To Do About Sore Tongue
If you have discovered that a loved one is using crack cocaine, then your best bet is to get in contact with a professional for help. An intervention that is run by an intervention specialist can help to bring the drug abuser to the realization that their crack use is a problem that must be dealt with.
At Dana Point Rehab Campus, we can assist you with admitting a patient and then providing them with a medical detox to break the physical addiction to cocaine. After detox, we will guide them through their recovery through evidence-based therapies that can bring about significant positive change to the addict’s life in recovery.
Sore On Tongue Treatment
To find help in Orange County, contact us at Dana Point Rehab Campus by dialing 949-239-7557 today to take advantage of the thorough assessment that helps our healthcare professionals to personalize a treatment program to suit your exact treatment needs.
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