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Felicita R.¡¯s Story
With every bite she eats, Felicita remembers how smoking hurt her health. She developed gum disease—a danger for all people who smoke—and lost all her teeth by age 50. In one surgery, 23 teeth were removed. “It was very, very hard,” says Felicita, who lives in Florida. It took a month for her mouth to heal. She doesn’t like the way her dentures fit, so she uses only the top set. This means she can only eat soft foods now.
Felicita grew up in New York and started smoking at age 12. She smoked for 33 years without knowing that cigarettes added to her dental problems. In her 30s and 40s, she already had bleeding gums and loose teeth. By the time Felicita quit smoking, it was too late to save her teeth.
Today, Felicita loves being smokefree. She can now keep up with her children on walks and takes dance classes. She’s even started to smile more. She tries to help her friends and family members who still smoke to quit. “I want them to learn from my experience and my mistakes,” Felicita says. “Making people understand the pain they could go through because of smoking, that’s going to be my mission for life.”
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Felicita R.’s Biography
Felicita R., age 63, lives in Florida. She started smoking at age 12 and smoked for 33 years. At age 50, Felicita was diagnosed with severe gum disease and learned that all her teeth needed to be removed. Felicita had already lost some teeth, but losing every tooth in her mouth came as a terrible shock. Like many people with gum disease, she did not have a lot of pain as the disease got worse and the tissues and bone structures holding her teeth in place were breaking down. Felicita’s dentist pulled out 23 teeth and fitted her with dentures (false teeth).
“It was very, very hard,” says Felicita. It took a month for her mouth to heal from surgery. She had to learn how to eat, drink, and talk again. Now, she typically eats only soft foods or puts her meals in a blender—even lettuce.
Felicita does not like to smile now that she has dentures. “I don’t like the way people look at me,” she says. “I feel ashamed of myself, really. I feel like I destroyed my health and my appearance with cigarettes.”
When she was young, Felicita thought smoking made her look cool. She also had many family members who smoked. In fact, her mother gave Felicita permission to smoke, as long as she paid for her own cigarettes.
Life moved quickly: marriage, two children right away, work, and two more children. Felicita brushed and flossed her teeth, and saw a dentist regularly, but by her mid-30s, her gums were bleeding. At age 40, her teeth were loose, and one tooth even fell out at home. While Felicita knew that smoking caused lung problems, she didn’t realize it could also cause problems with her teeth and gums.
Felicita wanted to quit for many years, and she finally did after she learned she had bad gum disease. The bleeding got worse, leaving stains on her pillow at night. One day at a work luncheon, a coworker whispered, “You’re bleeding.” Felicita hurried to the dentist, who said that all her teeth were damaged beyond repair and had to be pulled out.
Since getting dentures, Felicita doesn’t like to eat out. She misses biting into pizza, corn, peanuts, apples, and the traditional Puerto Rican dishes served at family gatherings. “I went through physical and mental pain,” Felicita says. “The pain will always be there.”
Today, Felicita loves being smokefree. She can now keep up with her children on walks and takes dance classes. She’s even started to smile more. She tries to help her friends and family members who still smoke to quit. “I want them to learn from my experience and my mistakes,” Felicita says. “Making people understand the pain they could go through because of smoking, that’s going to be my mission for life.”
