ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES – DENTISTS ARE RAISING ALARM

 Electronic cigarettes, what is it really: a simple harmless man toy or extremely harmful carcinogenic product? How do electronic cigarettes affect our oral cavities, and teeth and what information do the producers disguise?

Electronic cigarettes are quite a recent story. As long ago as in 2003, a Chinese researcher Hon Lik presented the first electronic cigarette to the world, trying to assure people that smoking would be safe from then on. However, he provided no evidence to back up his statement then.

A few years after electronic cigarettes invention, scientists started to conduct a variety of experiments in order to either confirm or refute the hypothesis of new cigarettes complete safety. According to Business Insider, electronic cigarettes contain 10 times more carcinogens than common tobacco cigarettes, especially if we talk about acetaldehyde and formaldehyde, commonly known to cause cancer.

In the course of clinical research studies, nicotine vapor, exhaled from the electronic cigarette while smoking, has also proven to adversely affect the oral cavity epithelium surface layer and even cause their destruction, thus provoking dental diseases. After mucous membrane protective properties are damaged, this natural barrier for many pathogenic organisms is rendered ineffective as a result. Besides, smoking electronic cigarettes also leads to mouth microbial misbalance, provoking future periodontal disease. Electronic cigarettes vapors have also been proven to contain dissimilar metals nanoparticles, nicotine products and carcinogens, which are able to enormously reduce the number of glutathione natural antioxidants in the body.

Scientists mention the fact that dentists do not recommend, and sometimes even deny dental procedures, such as dental implantation, to people who smoke electronic cigarettes because their regenerative processes are much slower, thus enormously increasing the risks of implant rejections.

In conclusion, we would like to add that some scientists also nurture quite an opposite opinion about the electronic cigarettes effects on the human body. There are researchers and scientists who do not support the assertion about e-cigarettes’ harm and carcinogenicity but rather consider them as an alternative to common cigarettes. Many of the smokers also leave positive responses describing their vaping experience – “... have ceased to cough ...”, “... dyspnoea has disappeared ...”. Consequently, only you can decide whether to trust your health to electronic cigarettes manufacturers or not.

By Dr. Iryna Todoryuk, doctor, BiMedis Company