Research on Snus and Gums
The study looking at real-world vapers’ teeth had pretty positive results, but as the cell studies show, there is still some potential for issues over the long-term. Unfortunately, aside from that study there is little we can do but speculate. However, we do have some extra evidence we can call on.
If nicotine is responsible for the dental issues that smokers experience – or at least partially responsible for them – then we should see signs of problems in other people who use nicotine without smoking. Snus – the Swedish form of smokeless tobacco that’s essentially snuff in a mini teabag – and nicotine gums give two great sources of evidence we can use to investigate the issue in a bit more detail.
On the whole, the evidence doesn’t seem to point the finger at nicotine very much. One study looked at evidence covering 20 years from Sweden, with over 1,600 participants in total, and found that while severe gum disease was more common in smokers, snus users didn’t seem to be at increased risk at all. There is some indication that gum recession and loss of tooth attachment is more common at the location the snus is held, but on the whole the likelihood of issues is much more closely related to smoking than snus use.
Although this hasn’t been studied as much as you may think, a study in nicotine gum users provides yet more evidence that nicotine isn’t really the issue. Chewing sugar-containing gum obviously has the potential to affect your teeth even without nicotine, but a comparison between 78 people who chewed nicotine gum for 15 weeks with 79 who chewed non-nicotine gum found no difference at all on things such as plaque, gingivitis, tartar and other oral health related outcomes. Again, smoking did increase the risk of tartar and gingivitis.
Overall, while there are some plausible explanations for how nicotine could affect your oral health, the evidence really doesn’t support a link. This is good news for any vapers, snus users or long-term NRT users, but it should go without saying that avoiding smoking and looking after your teeth in general is still important for your oral health.
