According to a recent study, about 15% of Canadians have tried a vaping product of some kind. While vapes are relatively new products, one thing is very clear: vaping has a significant effect on your teeth.
But is vaping bad for your teeth? Does vaping make teeth yellow? How else does vaping affect your oral health?
That’s what we’re here to look at today. Read on to find out more about how vaping affects your teeth and what these products mean for your oral health.
Vaping Can Hurt Your Teeth
While many see vaping as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products, it’s no secret that vaping affects your teeth. Vapes release formaldehyde, aerosol, and other compounds that damage your teeth.
When heated, formaldehyde is released from vapes. The aerosol that vapes release contains nicotine and other chemicals that affect your oral health, just as cigarettes do.
The aerosol released from vapes also leads to bacteria buildup in your mouth. The bacteria cause tooth decay, gum disease, and cavities. Swollen gums, dry mouth, and other issues also come from vaping.
A List of Reasons To Quit Vaping Now
Just as there are many reasons to quit smoking cigarettes, there are also many reasons to quit vaping.
Using vapes affects your mental health since it builds dependence and often leads to addiction. The nicotine in vapes often affects your mood. It also has an adverse effect on your self-control, concentration, and even memory.
While some tout vaping as an alternative to smoking tobacco, it often leads many to smoke cigarettes or similar products. This leads to other addictions in the future.
According to the aforementioned study from Canada.ca, young adults from the ages of 20 to 24 are most likely to start vaping. Out of all vape users, many are either current smokers or smoked in the past.
On top of the effect that vaping has on your teeth, it also affects your overall body and can lead to lung disease and other related issues. Conditions like bronchitis aren’t far-fetched for those who vape regularly.
What Vaping Does To Your Teeth
So what does vaping do to your teeth specifically? Let’s explore a few different effects here:
Bacteria
As we mentioned earlier, vaping leads to bacterial growth from chemicals in the aerosol. Greater bacterial growth usually leads to more cavities, gum disease, tooth decay, and toothaches.
Staining
Vapes that contain nicotine also stain teeth. Why does this happen? The outer surface of the teeth, or the enamel, is porous. The nicotine from the vape gets trapped inside those pores, causing tooth stains.
Grinding Teeth
The nicotine found in vapes also acts as a stimulant. When jaw muscles are stimulated, they contract. This means people who vape are more likely to grind their teeth while they sleep. We’ll go deeper into this topic later.
Harmful Ingredients
Vapes are often marketed as having specific flavours, which come from vape juices. These juices, as we’ve mentioned, often contain nicotine. Nicotine is very harmful to your teeth.
While some vape juices have lower nicotine content than cigarettes and other similar products, it’s still harmful to your oral health. It restricts blood flow to your gums and makes it harder to fight oral infections.
Vape juices also contain propylene glycol or PG. While PG is technically safe to consume, it breaks down into acid that damages the enamel on teeth. This often irritates soft tissue. PG also causes dry mouth and other conditions.
Vapes Can Chip Your Teeth
Chemicals like vegetable glycerin help bacteria stick to your teeth. This not only creates conditions for more infections and tooth loss but also leads to chipped teeth.
People who commonly vape often find themselves with chipped teeth because of this. On top of chipped teeth, it also creates conditions perfect for tooth decay.
Tooth Decay
We have already mentioned how vapes are marketed as cigarette alternatives with desirable flavours. While vape juices may be manufactured to taste good, it increases the chances of tooth decay.
Aerosols from vapes are said to have similar properties as candies and highly acidic drinks. This means cavity-causing bacteria are included in vape juices.
Sticky bacteria in your mouth means brushing your teeth becomes much harder. This opens you up to a greater chance of tooth decay as a result.
Gum Disease
Vaping often leads to dry mouth. This allows plaque bacteria to multiply, leading to more infections below the gum line. If this is left untreated, gingivitis becomes much more likely.
Yellowing Teeth
Nicotine in cigarettes is known to stain users’ teeth. This holds true for vape products containing nicotine. Vape users often get yellow teeth from continuous use as a result.
While there are vapes that don’t contain nicotine, many use vapes as a way of weaning off cigarettes or for similar recreational uses. This means vape users are just as susceptible to yellow teeth as cigarette smokers.
Yes, Vaping Can Cause Bruxism
We mentioned bruxism earlier when speaking about grinding teeth. Bruxism is the act of clenching or grinding one’s teeth, usually at night. About 8% of adults and 13% of children suffer from this condition.
Vaping often increases the likelihood of bruxism since nicotine acts as a stimulant for the jaw. It activates your jaw muscles, causing a grinding motion when you’re asleep.
So Is Vaping Bad For Your Teeth?
The ingredients found in vapes and vape juice cause plenty of adverse effects that negatively affect your overall oral health. The sooner you quit vaping, the healthier your teeth will be.
Are you looking for reliable family dentists here in the Nepean, ON area? Contact us today and we’ll get you started on a solution right away!