Vaping and e-cigarettes have become a popular alternative to smoking as the process doesn’t involve burning tobacco. It also has gained an impressive popularity through social media channels and the sports aspect that it brings.
However while it doesn’t produce smoke, it still delivers nicotine to your body which can have a lot of oral health implications. Continue reading to find out what the implications of using e-cigarettes has on your dental health.
Nicotine and gum health
There are many studies that have been conducted that concluded that nicotine can cause harm to your mouth, tongue and gums. This is true no matter how the nicotine is administered ie smoking or the use of an e-cigarette.
The Journal of the Indian Society of Periodontology published a report that stated that nicotine can contribute to your mouth developing periodontitis and gingivitis which are known contributors to bad breath and inflammation throughout your body.
Below are some more implications that the use of nicotine has on your oral health.
Masks gum disease symptoms
A lot of people claim that after the use of an e-cigarette their gum disease symptoms has improved and that even their dentist noticed the changes. Gum disease results in more blood flow to your gums which is an obvious sign for dentists when you go in for a check-up. It is likely for your gums to swell and when you brush your teeth or even floss they will start to bleed.
Nicotine exposure in your mouth will subside this bleeding but that doesn’t mean that it is gone completely. If you haven’t been diagnosed and the symptoms continue to be masked you will find that the disease will escalate very quickly.
Death of gum tissue
Nicotine is known to reduce the amount of blood that flows through your veins. The term for these types of things is referred to as vasoconstrictors.
If your gums don’t get a sufficient amount of blood flow they will not be able to get the nutrients and oxygen in order to survive. Thus the nicotine essentially chokes your gums and causes them to die.
Bad breath
Vasoconstrictors also suppress your body’s ability to produce saliva. When your body doesn’t have
enough saliva, it leaves your mouth susceptible to a build-up of bacteria, tooth decay and dry mouth
which are all not very pleasant on your nose.
Keeping your mouth healthy while vaping
At the moment there isn’t enough research and data conducted to give a conclusive correlation between vaping and oral health implications. However since vaping can contain nicotine there is a possibility that it will also give you similar health implications to other methods of nicotine consumption.
To care for your mouth while you are suing an e-cigarette you should be brushing your teeth with fluoride at least twice a day and flossing regularly. Additionally you should also be getting a check-up from a dentist at least once every 6 months to ensure that your teeth and gums are in proper health.
Letting your dentist know that you are an avid vaper and user of e-cigarettes will also help them take the extra steps to ensure that your mouth is free of any types of disease.
To summarise there isn’t a whole lot of information available at the moment with vaping and the implications on your oral health. However it is safe to assume that the use of an electronic cigarette which contains nicotine will have similar effects on your mouth. Because of this many vapers are taking the extra steps to ensure that their oral health is in fitting form so they can vape for many years to come!
Dan Jones was born and raised in Australia. Dan covers stories related to vaping at Kev’s Vape.
