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For those who care about their teeth, a new study
sounds a pretty clear alarm: using tobacco in any
form — including the increasingly popular practice
of vaping — is a recipe for a dental nightmare. The
warning comes from the U.S. National Institute of
Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), after
scientists analyzed several years of tracking data
that looked at associations between smoking and poor
dental health among thousands of American men and
women. The bottom line: regular users of cigarettes,
electronic cigarettes (vapes), cigars, pipes,
hookahs and/or smokeless tobacco face a notably
higher risk for various forms of dental trouble.
Depending on the type of tobacco involved, that
includes a significantly heightened likelihood for
six different types of dental concerns, including
gum disease; precancerous oral lesions; bone loss
surrounding the teeth; loose teeth; and/or tooth
loss due to tooth decay or gum disease. And vaping,
which is sometimes viewed as a safer form of tobacco
use, was linked to a 27% higher risk for bleeding
following brushing or flossing. Between 2022 and
2022, lead researcher and her colleagues analyzed
three to five years of annual tracking data
collected from 2013 to 2019. The six dental issues
under consideration were tracked among roughly
10,000 to 16,000 men and women. About 16% to 19% of
them smoked cigarettes regularly, while 2% to 3%
smoked cigars or used smokeless tobacco,
respectively. In the end, cigarettes were linked to
a 33% greater risk for gum disease, a 35% higher
risk for loose teeth and a 43% higher risk for
losing teeth, while cigar use was linked to a more
than doubling of the risk for precancerous oral
lesions. But the investigators also focused on the
2% to 3% of participants who regularly vaped. Even
so, she was not at all surprised by the finding of a
significantly higher risk for gum bleeding after
flossing/brushing among vapers. The concern, she
explained, is predicated on what her own prior work
has already revealed about vaping's impact on the
bacteria that lives in everyone's mouth, an
environment that researchers refer to as "the
biofilm." In fact, after stacking the dental health
of people who had vaped for only five months against
smokers who had been smoking for at least fiveyears,
"what we found is that the amount of inflammation
among vapers was as much as among smokers, even
though vapers had far less exposure to tobacco in
terms of time. And that means that vapers appear to
get to the point of bacterial destruction much
faster." Exactly if or how that all translates into
serious dental damage among vapers is not entirely
clear, the researchers cautioned. They noted, for
example, that most vapers are former smokers. And
they pointed out that means the increased gum
bleeding risk among vapers could potentially have
something to do with quitting cigarette smoking. On
the other hand, the team warned that despite only
linking gum bleeding to vaping, it could be that
such bleeding is a early warning for dental problems
as yet undetected. More research to track such
longer-term risk will be needed, the study team
said. |