On July 7, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will release its latest anti-smoking ad campaign, featuring vivid, graphic depictions of smoking’s effects on our health and well-being.

According to a June 24 WebMD article, the campaign, Tips From Former Smokers
, has helped hundreds of thousands quit smoking since it began in 2012.

The ads focus on several real-life people who have been affected in a variety of ways by smoking. One ad centers on a man who lost most of his teeth to gum disease, and another focuses on a woman who lost all her teeth before turning 50. Other people in the ads suffered through throat cancer, clogged blood vessels and even a premature birth from a mother who was smoking during her pregnancy.

Numerous studies document the devastating effects that cigarette smoking has on the appearance and health of teeth. Smokers are twice as likely to suffer tooth loss than the general population. According to Delta Dental, if you start smoking at age 18 and smoke a pack a day, you can lose as much as four or five teeth before turning 35.

In addition to tooth decay and loss, smoking also causes dramatic tooth discoloration and yellowing. Having unattractive teeth causes people to lose self-confidence and to avoid social activities.

Gum disease, also a consequence of smoking, has been found to increase one’s likelihood of heart disease and diabetes.

The CDC’s Tips From Former Smokers is intended to counteract the $8.3 billion that the tobacco industry spends on advertising cigarettes each year, the WebMD article reports.

“In contrast to the industry’s marketing that glamorizes smoking, the CDC’s ads tell the harsh truth about how devastating and unglamorous cigarette smoking truly is and how smoking harms health at every stage of life,” Vince Willmore, vice president for communications at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, wrote in a statement.