Vaping is a popular alternative to smoking. It does have a negative effect on your overall oral health. However, it poses fewer oral health risks as compared to conventional cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes and vaping have become quite common in recent times. But, research has not been able to catch up. Even though the studies are ongoing, there is still a lot more that needs to be studied, especially when it comes to long-term effects.
How Does Vaping Impact Your Gums and Teeth?
To better understand the effect of vaping on mouth bacteria, you need to know its impact on your gums and teeth. The present research reveals that vaping juice like cosmic fog kryptonite causes negative effects on the gums and teeth. The results are explained below.
Excess Bacteria
Studies have found that teeth that are exposed to electronic cigarette aerosol contained more bacteria as compared to those that had not been exposed. The difference is greater deep in the crevices of the teeth. Excess bacteria causes gum disease, cavities, and tooth decay.
Dry Mouth
Another effect of vaping is that is causes mouth dryness. It is more common when using electronic cigarettes that are liquid-based, especially propylene glycol. Chronic mouth dryness leads to mouth sores, bad breath, and tooth decay.
Inflamed Gums
An inflammatory response in the gum tissues is triggered when electronic cigarettes are used. Ongoing gum inflammation causes different types of periodontal diseases.
Overall Irritation
Vaping is also reported to cause throat and mouth irritation. Gum symptoms such as redness, swelling, and tenderness are common.
Cell Death
There have been various studies on human gums live cells which reveal that vaping aerosols potentially increase inflammation as well as cause DNA damage. It leads to cells losing their ability to grow or divide. This speeds up cell aging which results in cell death. It plays a huge role in many oral health issues such as tooth decay, mouth dryness, bad breath, tooth loss, bone loss, and periodontal disease. However, long-term research is required to fully understand the role of vaping in causing cell death.
Vaping Vs Smoking Cigarettes
The National Academy of Sciences revealed that vaping does not pose as many oral health risks as smoking. But, the conclusion is simply based on limited research. As more research comes in, the stance might even change.
Supporting Research
A study was conducted in 2016 which involve an oral examination of people who switched to vaping from cigarettes. Researchers concluded that vaping helps improve various oral health indicators such as gum bleeding and plaque levels. Smokers are exposed to higher levels of nicotine and other harmful chemicals.
Contradictory Research
There has also been contradictory research that suggests that gum inflammation is caused when smokers switch to vaping.
Conclusion
The results offered by each study should be interpreted with caution since sample sizes tend to be small and there are no control groups for comparison. There is a need for increased research to determine just how harmful vaping is and how it affects mouth bacteria and our oral health.
