In a new study from NYU College of Dentistry, researchers found how e-cigarettes alter oral health and may be contributing to gum disease.
They found that e-cigarette users have a unique oral microbiome—the community of bacteria and other microorganisms—that is less healthy than nonsmokers but potentially healthier than cigarette smokers.
Gum disease affects nearly half of U.S. adults over 30 years of age.
Smoking cigarettes is a known risk factor for developing gum disease, but less is known about the impact of e-cigarettes—which vaporize nicotine and other chemicals—on oral health, especially the long-term consequences of vaping.
In the study, the team examined the oral health of 84 adults from three groups: cigarette smokers, e-cigarette users, and people who have never smoked.
All participants had some gum disease at the start of the study, with cigarette smokers having the most severe disease, followed by e-cigarette users.
After six months, the researchers found that gum disease had worsened in some participants in each group, including several e-cigarette users.
A key indicator of gum disease is clinical attachment loss, measured by gum ligament and tissue separating from a tooth’s surface, leading the gum to recede and form pockets.
These pockets are breeding grounds for bacteria and can lead to more severe gum disease.
The research team found that clinical attachment loss was significantly worse only in the e-cigarette smokers—not non-smokers and cigarette smokers—after six months.
The researchers then analyzed the bacteria found in the plaque samples and found that e-cigarette users have a different oral microbiome from smokers and nonsmokers.
While all groups shared roughly a fifth of the types of bacteria, the bacterial makeup for e-cigarette users had strikingly more in common with cigarette smokers than nonsmokers.
Several types of bacteria were abundant in both smokers and vapers compared to nonsmokers.
Several other bacteria—including Fusobacterium and Bacteroidales, which are known to be associated with gum disease—were particularly dominant in the mouths of e-cigarette users.
The team says vaping appears to be driving unique patterns in bacteria and influencing the growth of some bacteria in a manner akin to cigarette smoking, but with its own profile and risks to oral health.
If you care about gum health, please read studies about mouthwash that may increase your tooth damage, and this toothpaste may help prevent heart attack, stroke by detecting plaque.
For more information about tooth health, please see recent studies about this chemical in drinking water linked to tooth decay and results showing that new high-tech mouthwash could kill tooth bacteria effectively.
The study is published in mBio and was conducted by Deepak Saxena et al.
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