Vaping has been a major topic for discussion in recent times. This is because it is gaining popularity and becoming more socially acceptable to vape in public areas. Many people take up vaping due to its lower health risks than traditional smoking, such as cigarettes. However, along with all of the positive effects of vaping, some negative aspects need to be brought up and discussed. One such negative aspect would be how vaping can affect one’s mouth, teeth, and gums. In this article, we will look at the different ways vaping can cause problems within your mouth.
Long Term
Gum Disease
Vaping isn’t just bad for your teeth; it can also cause gum disease. When you vape, you are irritating the gums within your mouth due to the high temperatures of the vapor. This irritation can lead to inflammation and swelling of the gums, plaque buildup, and tooth loss. Plaque is what causes cavities and tooth decay, thus making vaping detrimental to your oral health.
Dry Mouth
Mouth dryness is another side effect of vaping that causes your saliva production to drop, thus leading to having a dry mouth for hours on end each day, making it hard to speak or even swallow because there’s not enough saliva in your mouth to help you move food down towards your stomach without discomfort. This is due to the nicotine within vape juice, which dries out the salivary glands and can cause painful sores or blisters if left ignored over time, especially if you were experiencing this side effect already before vaping because maybe you have allergies or are just so used to having a dry mouth.
Gagging
Yet another way vaping can affect your mouth is by making you gag when you vape or even just when the smell of the vapor catches in the back of your throat. This is due to its irritant properties, which irritate sensitive parts of your body such as your eyes, nose, and throat.
Throat Irritation
Vaping also causes throat irritation that can lead to coughing fits when using vape products with nicotine within them because nicotine is a stimulant that will naturally cause an increase in saliva production, thus causing phlegm build-up within your respiratory system if it’s not dispersed properly. When this occurs, humans tend to clear their throats to bring the phlegm back down lower within their respiratory system.
Allergies
Vaping can also cause allergies in certain people, and this is due to its artificial sweetener properties that many vape juice companies add into their e liquids because they’re trying to make it taste more appealing for customers; however, adding in too many artificial sweeteners can harm affect certain people with allergies if they happen to vape from these products.
Short Term
Bad Breath
Bad breath is never a pleasant thing to have, regardless of how much Mint flavored vape juice you are using to mask the smell. While it may help cover up bad breath in the short term, vaping still has negative effects on your mouth that can cause lasting damage if not tended to properly through brushing and flossing teeth regularly, along with being sure to skip out on foods that will rot away at your teeth or give you cavities due to sticking between your teeth for too long. This includes cracking nuts open with your teeth, chewing ice cubes, and snacking on starchy foods such as chips or pretzels.
Tooth Staining
Vaping can also cause your teeth to start turning yellow over time if you don’t properly clean out the vapor from within your mouth after vaping. This is due to the heat and ingredients of the vape juice, which will cause a reaction within your saliva that turns it into a light brown color, thus staining your teeth over time without proper oral hygiene upkeep.
Tongue & Mouth Irritation
Some people have reported having negative side effects such as their tongue and mouth becoming irritated once they started vaping and even getting blisters on their lips or in between their lip lines. When this occurs, it’s mostly because those with sensitive skin are allergic to either propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin within vape juice, both of which create the vapor within the product.
Loose Tooth Sensation
Another way vaping can affect your oral health is by sometimes causing a loose tooth feeling because of the irritated gums from vaping. This is caused by using vape products with nicotine in them due to how it forces the body to produce more saliva than usual, thus resulting in swollen gums if you don’t stay on top of flossing and brushing your teeth daily to get rid of all the plaque that has built up.
Vaping isn’t just bad for your teeth; it can also cause gum disease. When you vape, you are irritating the gums within your mouth due to the high temperatures of the vapor. This irritation can lead to inflammation and swelling of the gums, plaque buildup, and tooth loss.
Bad Taste in Mouth
Some people might experience a bad taste in their mouth after vaping because of the lingering flavor within your mouth for hours on end with certain vape juices. When this occurs, it’s best to brush your teeth with baking soda or an antiseptic mouthwash before going to bed, so you aren’t inhaling the smell all night long while you sleep, thus making it even harder to get rid of the foul taste in your mouth.
How Vaping Can Affect Some Dental Procedures
- During dental procedures, if you are vaping while another person is working on your teeth or gums, the vapor can affect the anesthetic and hurt your gums during the procedure.
- Nicotine can also be harmful to those who have implants and crowns within their mouths. Since nicotine is a stimulant that raises saliva production and affects blood flow, it can cause gum disease and tooth decay due to plaque buildup over time without proper oral hygiene upkeep even more rapidly than normal.
- Also, if you’re getting a root canal treatment done with your vape juice in your mouth accidentally leaking into the line of where they’ll be injecting anesthesia into before or during the procedure; then that anesthesia could mix with your vape juice and create harmful chemicals within your system that may cause you intense pain during the procedure.
- Lastly, when you vape while getting a filling or crown put in your mouth, the chemicals from your vape juice can seep into the tooth being worked on and have both harmful and beneficial results. If it’s a filling they’re putting in, they will most likely repair any damage done to the tooth before filling it back in with a composite resin.
However, suppose it is an indirect pulp cap that is usually used for baby teeth. In that case, there is no guarantee that vapors won’t get into where they’ll be doing the procedure because of how small the hole made for such procedures are within the tooth itself.
Vaping is bad for your mouth in more ways than one; but with proper oral hygiene upkeep, brushing twice daily along with flossing at least once a day with mint-flavored floss or even Listerine strips (which also reduces plaque buildup), then vaping won’t cause that much damage over time if you can keep yourself from turning into an everyday user of vape products.
