With the rising number of younger smokers, doctors are tracking and using data that is beginning to show a link between smoking and bad dental health. Not only does smoking increase your chances of getting oral cancer, but it has other negative side effects like mouth sores, rotting teeth and possibly lung cancer. Less life-threatening but still serious side effects include stained teeth, shrinking gums, slowed mouth healing and losing some sense of taste and smell.

Some people believe that chewing tobacco is a safer alternative to smoking, but it’s not. Chewing tobacco can cause bleeding lips, cracked gums, mouth sores and still increases your lung cancer risk four times that of the non-tobacco user. Not only are these mouth problems unsightly, but they can cause gum cancer and a wide array of other problems.

Almost all kinds of tobacco contain more than 4,000 types of harmful chemicals. Some of these chemicals are cytotoxic, meaning that they can actually destroy your body’s tissue and cells. Smoking or using chewing tobacco can cause vasoconstriction, the narrowing of your blood vessels that makes it harder for your body to pump blood through your circulatory system. If your blood has a hard time pumping, your body won’t be getting enough oxygen — which can cause fatigue.

Even second-hand smoke has greatly increased the risk of lung cancer in nonsmokers, because the second-hand smoke still contains some of the 4,000 dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes.

Another contributor to bad dental health from chewing tobacco is sugar. Sugar is the major ingredient in most chewing tobacco and is known to cause tooth decay. Bacteria that form inside your mouth use sugar as food and can quickly grow into harmful colonies of bacteria.

On top of that, the carbohydrates in sugar combined with your saliva can cause acid attacks on the enamel surface of your teeth. Any type of sugar, natural or refined, is still sugar and will cause this reaction. Brushing your teeth twice a day can help keep bacteria from forming, but using chewing tobacco or smoking cigarettes will still cause decay.