Over the past 4 years, vaping has become a social norm for teens and young adults, with little awareness of how harmful it can be to your teeth. We teamed up with Dr. Kiren Johal to give you some insight into vaping.
We can safely say that we all know how harmful smoking is to oral health.
It stains your teeth, can contribute to tooth loss, cause gum disease, and even worse… oral cancer.
Studies show that, in 2022, an impressive number of 3.1 / 3.2 million of UK vaping users… is a crazy amount of people inhaling flavored liquid.
You only have one set of teeth for the rest of your life, and it's certain that it's expensive to repair them once the damage has been done!
So, if vape, allow us to enlighten you with the help of Dr. Kiren Johal, who has been a dentist for the past 15 years, and let's talk about the effects that smoking/vaping has on teeth.
Ships are not friends!
In the last 4 years, cigarettes have become less of a fad and vaping sales have skyrocketed. Vaping was introduced by a Chinese pharmacist to discourage more people from smoking cigarettes, which in turn has worked as a treat… fewer smokers, but more vapers, and most people you meet on the street are followed by a cloud of flavored smoke.
An infinity of appealing vape flavors have encouraged the younger generation to enjoy the taste of smoking, but without giving a second thought to how the fumes and ingredients are harmful to your teeth and overall health.
What's in your vapor?
One of the main ingredients in vape juice is propylene glycol (PG), which is technically labeled as safe for inhalation, but which, when used orally, it breaks down into acids that damage enamel and propionaldehyde that irritates soft tissues. Some of the cheaper branded companies that sell vape liquids and disposable pens include substances carcinogen, which have the ability to cause cancer, it has also been found that some companies use products like antifreeze.
If you are going to buy vape liquid, do some research first about where you are buying the liquid. Anything you put in your mouth to smoke will instantly affect the inside of your mouth, your teeth, and especially your gums. Your gums are very sensitive when it comes to smoke/vapes, so here's an insight into what it does.
Don't be mean to your gums!
A major factor in the case of vaping/smoking is gum disease, which is not always visible to the user who smokes or vapes. The most common side effect may be bleeding gums. However, this is not always the case. Nicotine can reduce blood flow to your gums, meaning they won't be able to heal and therefore won't know you have gum disease., so you can actually have gum disease and not know it and make it worse when you consume any kind of nicotine.
Make sure you visit your dentist regularly and we can help point you in the right direction. Since vaping was primarily introduced to get smokers away from cigarettes and towards plastic, let's take a look at what smoking can do to your oral health.
Smoking
Each cigarette you smoke contains an average of 0.7 mg of nicotine and 6 mg of tar., which then instantly stick to the gums and inside of the mouth, which reduces the mouth's ability to fight off any oral infections. This can lead to an excessive growth of bacteria, which then contributes to gum disease and finally, to tooth loss, which can affect cosmetic mastication and bite instability, sounds divine, doesn't it! It's never too late to quit smoking, but it will be too late when you're in the dentist's chair, being consulted for tooth extractions due to the damage caused by smoking. There are alternative methods to combat nicotine addiction:
- Chewing gum which releases small doses of nicotine
- Skin patches, they release nicotine slowly to maintain a less intense and low nicotine intake
- Tablets, oral strips and lozenges
- Nasal and oral spray
- or you can seek therapy/hypnosis for further analysis if the above methods do not prevent you from quitting smoking
Anything that exposes your gums directly to heat and nicotine will make you more likely to develop oral health problems and ultimately, syou are losing your teeth or to provoke cracks and holes in teeth, which are known as Careers.
Cavities are not a new fashion trend!
If you've ever been to the dentist and had to get a filling, then unfortunately you have what's called tooth decay. Tooth decay is caused by sugary drinks, not brushing your teeth properly, or the buildup of unwanted bacteria in your mouth. Vaping/smoking is a leading cause of increased chances of cavities due to nicotine and flavored e-liquid. If you continue to vape/smoke with undetected cavities, this will cause the tooth to become extremely infected, which can lead to more extreme invasive treatments such as root canal treatments.
Constantly filling your mouth with sugar-rich vapors gives bacteria in your mouth the means to produces acid endlessly. Of course not all vape liquids contain sugar, however, be careful when trying to choose sugar-free vape liquids. Cavities are not the only problem you will face when using your vapes, oh no, there is something that most vapers will face on a daily basis… dry mouth!
Dry mouth… yuck!
Have you ever noticed that after vaping you are left with a dry mouth? Well, that's simply because when you inhale the vapor, the propylene glycol absorbs moisture from your mouth, and saliva sticks to the smoke, leaving your mouth super dry. Constantly having a dry mouth will eventually lead to bad breath… and no one wants that!
If you experience dry mouth and don't gradually replace your fluids, your body will start to feel DRIED. Your body is made up of 90% water, but your brain accounts for 80% of that amount, so if you let the numbers drop even slightly, there's a chance you'll start to feel like you have a headache. If the headache doesn't go away, it could also mean that you're smoking too much (chain vaping) and that your nicotine level is higher than you're used to. That sounds like a headache to us!
If you are currently vaping and reading this blog, then pause, put down the vape and read! If you continue to vape, which means you are neglecting your oral health, you will eventually face serious long-term health problems, not just for your teeth, but also for your overall health:
- Release free radicals into vapors that promotes the development of cancer in the body.
- You will weaken your tooth enamel, causing a severe sensitivity.
- Increase bacterial growth which will accumulate in the pits and crevices of your teeth.
- Increase the risk of developing serious gum disease.
- Creates chronic dry mouth that is associated with bad breath, mouth sores, and tooth decay
- Inflamed gums
- Tooth loss
- Lung damage
- weakens the immune system and delays brain development!!!
Now, all of these points don’t sound like something anyone should go through, so if you’re vaping, think about the benefits of… oh wait! there are none. NONE.
It's never too late to quit!
Now, if this wasn't enough to scare you into stopping vaping and starting to take care of your oral and overall health, then here are some alternatives to try:
- Limit your nicotine intake, try nicotine-free vapor or a small dose of nicotine.
- Make sure you drink enough water throughout the day, this will help maintain a hydrated mouth which can help with minimizing the risk of infection.
- Make sure you brush your teeth twice a day, for 2 minutes each time. Brushing helps remove plaque which helps prevent cavities and promotes overall gum health.
- Visit your dentist! Make sure you have a regular check-up every 6 months for a cleaning and consultation. Maintaining a healthy mouth means you are less likely to experience oral health problems in the future.
Taking care of your teeth and overall health is so important, if you want to quit vaping/smoking, visit your local GP and they will be able to guide you with all the correct information you need to get started. the future without vaping!
Source: enlightensmiles.com
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