Dental Wellness
Understanding Your Oral Health
Excuse me, do you have a light? If you smoke cigarettes, a pipe or cigars, your oral health may be at risk.
- Tobacco use causes an increased level of calculus (hardened plaque) to form on teeth, which can lead to tooth decay and gum disease.1
- Users of tobacco products, including smokeless “chewing” tobacco, are 4 to 10 times more likely to get oral cancer, esophageal cancer, and laryngeal cancer than non-users.2
Resources
For more information and tools,visit MetLife’s Oral Health Library3 at oralfitnesslibrary.com
1 Gum disease risk factors. American Academy of Periodontology. 2025. http://www.perio.org/consumer/risk-factors. Accessed September 2025.
2 Hopkins Medicine, Mydlarz, M.D., Wojtek, "Oral Cancer and Tobacco". https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/oral-cancer-and-tobacco. Accessed September 2025.
3 All information provided on this website (“Website”) is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for obtaining medical or dental advice for specific medical or dental conditions or other advice from your dentists or doctors. By making this Website available to you, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and its affiliates (collectively, “MetLife”) is not engaged in rendering any such advice. Use of this Website is subject to all the terms stated herein. Insofar as the information provided on this Website is from third parties or links to third party websites, it has no association whatsoever with MetLife, unless expressly stated.
Like most group benefit programs, benefit programs offered by MetLife and its affiliates contain certain exclusions, exceptions, reductions, limitations, waiting periods and terms for keeping them in force. Please contact MetLife or your plan administrator for costs and complete details.
You may be financially responsible for copayments, deductibles, or any other amounts in excess of those MetLife is required to pay for covered services as described in your dental certificate and/or policy.