Another Reason to Quit Smoking

Another reason to stop smoking. Researchers have found that nicotine increases the growth of decay forming bacteria. They exposed 7 strains of strep mutans, which are the decay forming bacteria which live and breed in plaque. Bacteria exposed to nicotine caused the plaque to thicken and increased the metabolism of the bacteria. Increasing the metabolism increased the acid production. The acid produced by the bacteria erodes the enamel of teeth leading to tooth decay