Question:
My dentist today told me that compared to smoking is a big contributor =
to teeth stains. Anyone had similar conversations or data to support =
this?
Answer:
I'm not a dentist but talked about it with my dentist couple of years
ago. I didn't have time to ask where he found this information but for
some reason he was certain that cigarette paper is far bigger
contributor to teeth stains than the actual tobacco.
I don't always believe what the doctors tell me, but since this is
favourable towards pipes and I have no way of proving it wrong, I
might as well believe it :)
Not to say that I would believe tobacco to be good for your teeth, but
I don't think that meer and briar analogy works too well here. With
meers, the colouring is, to my knowledge, for a great part a result of
the bee wax changing colour because of tobacco juices and heat (there
might be some other factors too). Unstained briar (and most of the
other woods I know) darkens also from exposure to sunlight and due to
some change in the resins inside the wood caused by temperature
changes.
(I know I'm talking really vaguely here but it's because I'm pretty
tired and most of the English vocabulary seems to have vanished
completely.)
If I had to guess, and it is a guess, I would say that pipes will stain the
back of your teeth far more than cigerettes, but, the stain on the friont
(where it is more visable) would be more from the cigerettes.
