New Research Shows Link Between Vaping and Caries Risk
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- Published: Wednesday, 30 November 2022 07:40
- Written by Peter Ingle
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Discussions about the safety of vaping remain open to the question of what users would be doing, if they did not have the option to vape.
Dentists who have been able to offer a clear message to patients about smoking for many years, have found themselves trying to keep up with current research and opinion, on the safety of vaping.
A new study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) has added a very dental downside to vaping. Entitled, “A comparison of the caries risk between patients who use vapes or electronic cigarettes and those who do not,” the study was carried out by a team from Tufts University.
The cross sectional study used the records of over 13,000 patients seen at Tufts dental school from 2019 to the end of 2021. The data was subjected to statistical tests and the researchers concluded that there was a significant difference in the caries risk levels between the vape and control groups.
The vape group were distributed as 79.1%, 14.3% and 6.6% between high, moderate and low caries risk category. For the control group the figures were 59.6%, 25.9% and 14.5% respectively. The study concluded that there was an association between use of e-cigarettes and vaping, and caries risk level, and that patients who vaped had a higher risk of developing caries.
The study suggested that based upon its findings, use of e-cigarettes and vaping should be included on medical history questionnaires, and represented a factor that increased a patients caries risk level. It should be added that the study is considered preliminary and does not prove that vaping causes cavities. One aspect that may draw criticism is the relatively small percentage of patients in the study who had said that they vaped, although the data was subjected to recognised statistical tests.
Popular amongst adolescents, there are an estimated 2.5 million US teens vaping in the USA. Reported patterns of use by this group include keeping the product under their pillow, and then waking up in the night and vaping.
The study has already been picked up in the USA by NBC News. Speaking to Dr Karina Irusa, one of the study authors, it was postulated that the aerosolised e-liquid covered the teeth in a sticky and sugary layer. She compared vaping to going to bed sucking a lollipop.
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