Is Vaping Bad For Your Oral Health? We Explore

For many smokers, vaping might seem like a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes. It’s often more cost-effective and is now deemed more socially acceptable than smoking cigarettes. Yorkshire Cancer Research indicates that vaping has significant health benefits over smoking. 

However, vaping might not be as good for you as you might think, particularly when it comes to your oral health.

Recently the rise in the popularity of vaping has led many to question how good it is for your teeth, and there is evidence to suggest that some strong vape liquids could cause gum disease and other oral hygiene issues.

Here At Fulham Road Dental, we understand not only how addictive vaping can be, but also how badly it can affect your teeth and gums.

That’s why we’ve put together this helpful guide to the issues that vaping can cause to your teeth and what you can do about them.

Nicotine Can Cause Tooth Problems

Most vapers started out as smokers and transitioned into vaping as a route to quitting altogether. The reason vaping is so popular among former smokers is the nicotine in the vape liquid.

Nicotine is a highly addictive stimulant found in both cigarettes and most vape liquids. Because vaping doesn’t lead you to ingest tar and other harmful additives, it’s often seen as healthier than smoking cigarettes. Also, you can often choose a nicotine dose in your vape liquid, meaning you can slowly wean yourself off nicotine for good.

While vaping might seem like a great alternative to smoking for nicotine addicts, that isn’t the case. That’s because nicotine is the main cause of most oral health issues associated with smoking, so vaping with nicotine salts is still harmful to your teeth and gums.

Some of the tooth issues that nicotine can cause include:

• Tooth decay
• Yellowing of the teeth
• Bruxism or tooth grinding
• Dry mouth, which can lead to bad breath, increased plaque and tatar build-up, as well as other oral health issues
• Gum disease

While many of these issues are caused less by vaping than smoking, they’re still a problem that could lead to permanent damage to your teeth and gums.

Some of this damage, such as yellowing teeth, can be repaired, in this case, with tooth whitening treatments. However, it would always be best if you try to prevent these issues where possible, and the best way to do this is to avoid smoking or vaping altogether.

Many vape liquid providers offer nicotine-free options, which could be a good way to reduce tooth damage and potential gum problems.

However, these nicotine-free vape liquids often include a lot of sugar, which can lead to tooth decay and other oral health problems.

As such, even choosing nicotine-free vape liquids isn’t a foolproof way to avoid damaging your teeth while vaping, so stopping altogether is best.

Vape Pens Can Chip Teeth

Vape pens, or mods, are usually made from either plastic or metal. Both of these materials are hard and can cause damage to your teeth.

That’s particularly true if you vape when you’re drunk and aren’t careful about how quickly you lift the pen to your lips.

Also, if you vape in a car or while you’re walking, then your teeth could be badly damaged if you trip, fall or get into a collision.

Any of these incidents could result in a chipped tooth or, in the worst possible case, a tooth so badly damaged that it has to be removed.

While restorative dentistry, tooth implants and veneers can all help you to repair chipped or missing teeth, prevention is still better than the cure.

So, if you want a perfect smile, you should avoid using a vape pen and consider quitting, or at least only vaping when you’re standing still, sober and safe.

Smoking Isn’t Good For Your Teeth Either

As this article shows, vaping isn’t good for your teeth and can cause serious damage if you do it for a sustained period of time.

Still, that doesn’t mean that smoking is any better for your teeth and oral health. While vaping has its downsides, smoking has equally as many, although they are different.

Some of these issues are the same as vaping, such as the risk of getting a dry mouth, bad breath and stained teeth.

Smoking is also known to cause mouth cancer, which is a serious condition that could have a significant and negative impact on your quality of life.

So, while vaping isn’t a good option for anyone who wants to take care of their teeth, smoking isn’t any better and should be avoided where possible.

Conclusion: Giving Up Is The Best Option For Your Teeth

Ultimately, the best way to avoid damaging your teeth is to give up both smoking and vaping. Both habits can cause oral health problems and damage your teeth in the long run.

The damage might not be instantly visible, especially if you haven’t been vaping or smoking for a long time. However, over the years, vaping or smoking can seriously reduce the quality of your oral health and lead to lasting problems.

It’s never easy to give up smoking or vaping, particularly if you use nicotine salts or smoke traditional cigarettes, as nicotine is a highly addictive drug.

Thankfully you can get support, both from NHS services and your dentist, who can give you guidance on what vaping does to your teeth and how it’s affecting your oral health. You’ll then be more motivated to cut out vaping and improve your smile.

If you’re struggling to give up vaping, or you want to see the impact it’s had on your teeth, then book an appointment to visit us here at Fulham Road Dental or get in touch.

Our team of oral hygiene experts can check your teeth for signs of damage and discuss the ways you can deal with any issues caused by vaping or smoking.

To find out more about other issues that could affect your oral health, check out our regularly updated blog. You’ll then be able to make the best lifestyle choices to suit your teeth and ensure you always have a winning smile on your face.