The Research on Vaping and the Teeth: Cell Studies

First, there have been some studies looking specifically at how vaping affects the teeth. However, these studies have mainly taken the form of cell culture studies. These are known as “in vitro” (literally “in glass”) studies, and while they’re useful for understanding the biological mechanisms underpinning the potential health effects of vaping (and other exposures, medicines and pretty much anything), it is a limited form of evidence. Just because something affects a bunch of cells in a culture doesn’t mean it will have the same effect in a real human body.

With that in mind, the research on vaping and your teeth is summarized by a review from March 2017. The authors address evidence about gum disease, which includes cell culture studies showing that e-liquids have harmful effects on ligament cells and connective tissues in the gums. Aldehydes in e-cig vapour can have impacts on proteins and cause damage to DNA. All of these effects could theoretically lead to periodontal disease in vapers.

Nicotine also has the potential to cause problems for the teeth too, although again this is based on cell studies and evidence from people smoking tobacco. The authors argue that vaping could lead to impaired healing.

But the truth is that at the moment, we don’t have very much evidence specifically concerning vaping, and much of the above is ultimately speculation. It’s speculation based on mechanistic studies of how nicotine interacts with cells in your mouth, so it can’t be completely ignored, but the evidence we have so far can’t really say too much about what will happen to real-world vapers in practice.

The Research on Vaping and the Teeth: A Study on Real Vapers

However, there is one study that looked at oral health in real-world vapers, and its results were generally positive. The research included 110 smokers who’d switched to vaping and had their oral health examined at the start of the study, after 60 days and after 120 days. The vapers were split up into those who’d smoked for less than 10 years (group 1) and those who’d smoked for longer (group 2).

At the start of the study, 85 % of group 1 had a plaque index score of 1, with just 15 of them having no plaque at all. For group 2, none of the participants had a plaque score of 0, with about three-quarters scoring 2 out of 3, and the rest of the participants split between scores of 1 and 3. By the end of the study, 92% of group 1 and 87 % of the longer-term smokers in group 2 had plaque scores of 0.

For gum bleeding, at the start of the study, 61% of group 1 participants and 65% of group 2 participants bled after being poked with a probe. By the final follow-up, 92% of group 1 and 98% of group 2 had no bleeding. The researchers also took a papillary bleeding index, which involves a probe being inserted between the gum-line and the teeth, and similar improvements were seen. At the start of the study, 66% of group 1 and 60% of group 2 participants showed no bleeding, but at the end of the study, this had increased to 98% of group 1 and 100% of group 2.

It might only be one study, but the message it sends is pretty clear: switching to vaping from smoking appears to be a positive move as far as your teeth are concerned.