Actor Lily James blamed the vapot for damaging his teeth and leads the dental caries which forced him to have his first dental garnish. Here we examine what science says about vaping and its potential impact on teeth and oral health.
Is smoking bad for teeth?
A high proportion of vapers are former smokers or smoke as well as vape, so the first stopover port is the impact of smoking. Humans have started to smoke long before modern science and there is a richness of solid evidence on its health effects. The message is clear: smoking is extremely damaging for oral health.
Beyond bad breath, brown spots and loss of taste, tar and toxins in tobacco smoke increase the risk of gum disease. In serious cases, it can drop the teeth. The disease can however be more difficult to identify in smokers, because nicotine reduces blood flow in the gums. This makes them less likely to bleed, which is one of the signs of early alert of the disease. Smokers may also find it difficult to overcome gum disease due to the assault of smoke and the effect that smoking has on the immune system.
Smoking causes more than a dozen types of cancer throughout the body and more than half of the cancers in the mouth are linked to the habit.
What about vaping?
The impact of vaping on teeth and oral health is still beaten. Many less studies have examined the problem and many that are imperfect. A common problem is that studies do not ensure that vapers do not smoke cigarettes.
“The absolute effects of vapes and their impact on oral health are unknown,” said a spokesperson for the British Dental Association. But they added that recent and limited evidence have raised concerns about oral drought, irritation and diseases of the gums caused by vapes.
What do studies say?
Researchers from Newcastle University have published this year a major review on the impact of periodontal health vaping, which means the gums, ligaments and bones that support our teeth.
Two markers of long-term disease are bone loss and pockets in the fabric of the gums around the teeth, but there was no evidence that these were worse in vapers than in non-smokers or ancient smokers. Vapoters had a slight gum disease, “but it was quite marginal,” said Dr. Richard Holliday, lecturer and honorary consultant in restorative dentistry in Newcastle.
What about dental caries?
Again, the evidence is temporary, but there are some concerns. In a recent study, American researchers have analyzed patient files for more than 13,000 people who have attended dental clinics between 2019 and 2022. “Patients who vapped showed an increased risk of developing dental cavities compared to non-smoking and non-Vaponnant patients,” said Dr. Karina Irusa, the first author of the study, The Guardian.
The Newcastle team has also found higher plaque levels in vapers compared to non-smokers or former smokers, which would be in accordance with a higher risk of dental cavities. But other studies are necessary to determine if the Vapot itself is to blame for dental caries. There is evidence that nicotine users eat more sugar, so vapers can have bad teeth for reasons other than their habit of nicotine.
How could vaping cause dental caries?
A common statement is that sugar in flavored vapes leads to dental caries, but manufacturers tend to use artificial sweeteners instead of sugar. Indeed, sugar burns at vaping temperatures, so using them would produce a burned flavor and clog the heating coil.
If vaping leads to dental caries, Holliday suspects that the dry mouth, which the vapers often mention, is part of the problem. “Saliva is a wonderful thing to protect your teeth. When you reduce this, dental caries can occur more quickly and gum disease can occur more quickly,” he said.
Saliva helps keep the teeth clean and also contains calcium and phosphate that help resist acid attacks on bacteria, and drinks such as fruit juices, which are the main engines of dental caries.
The way the vape causes a dry mouth is not entirely clear, but vape liquids are the main culprits. It is mainly glycol propylene and vegetable glycerol, which are hygroscopic, which means that they absorb and keep water.
What about cancer?
People who vape do not involve anything like the number and variety of carcinogens in cigarette smoke. For this reason, the risk seems low. But it is a region that scientists look at, because vapers still regularly inhale chemicals in their bodies and long -term effects on delicate fabric in the lungs and elsewhere are not yet known.
Is vaping sure for young people?
The chief doctor of England, Professor Chris Whitty, summed it up as this: “If you smoke, vaping is much safer; If you don’t smoke, don’t vape. ” According to Holliday, it is good advice. “If you are a youngster, don’t vape,” he said. “You put something in a complicated ecosystem, so there will be long -term risks. But compared to smoking, they will be tiny.”
