Health Effects of Smoking

When you smoke, you can become addicted to, or not able to do without, nicotine. Nicotine is as habit-forming as the drugs heroin and cocaine. Over time, you may have problems with your teeth and gums; staining on your teeth, fingers, and fingernails; bad breath; and wrinkling skin. There are also other, more serious health problems, caused by smoking:

• Lung cancer and other lung diseases, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis
• Other kinds of cancer, such as cancer of the throat, mouth, esophagus (food pipe), pancreas, kidney, bladder, and cervix (opening to the uterus or womb)
• Atherosclerosis - clogged and narrowed arteries
• Heart disease
• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Early menopause - the stopping of menstrual periods
• Osteoporosis - the thinning and weakening of bones
• Infertility - problems getting pregnant
• Problems during pregnancy like miscarriage, early or premature birth, having an infant born with low birth weight, stillbirth, and even infant death