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A dental group in California posted about electronic cigarettes in their blog recently. They claim that electronic cigarettes damage teeth and impede oral recovery. This may be true to a degree, but the group lacks any real supporting evidence that oral health is actually damaged by e-cig use. While this group is certainly not as big a concern as, say, the FDA, WHO, or other three-letter acronyms, this is a good representation of smaller outlets adding to the conversation without any real authority, research, or context.

As the CA dental group’s post claims, nicotine is a vasoconstrictor. They use this little factoid to claim that e-cigs must encourage gum disease — or, at a minimum, reduce a mouth’s capacity to recover from gum and teeth problems. This might be true, but there has yet to be any studies to determine if that is the case. At the same time, while nicotine is, indeed, a vasoconstrictor, the level of effect it has on gum health and recovery absent cigarette smoke appears undocumented.

Just being a vasoconstrictor is not enough to claim that nicotine causes damage to the mouth and gums. Many experts attribute the damage done by smoking to the smoke rather than the nicotine. And while calling something a vasoconstrictor may make it sound scary, vasoconstriction is a natural process in the body in response to a number of drugs or environmental conditions. Often, it can even help resist the cold, reduce blood loss, and assist with under-circulation (Orthostatic hypotension).

The point is that there is little evidence to suggest that electronic cigarettes damage teeth and gums — and certainly none that suggests that this damage might compare to that of smoking. This dental group could have put out a warning about nicotine lozenges just as well. But e-cigs are a hot topic that everyone wants to have a say in — whether they know what they’re talking about or not.

This is probably why so many Americans aren’t sure whether e-cigs are less harmful than tobacco cigarettes now. There is so much noise out there on the subject that many individuals don’t have the time to sort through the mess. And with anti-smoking and public health groups continually berating the public with messages about the dangers of e-cigs, people aren’t sure who to believe. Small groups putting out unverified, unsupported, and unclear messages only add to the problem.

Again, this is not to say that e-cigs don’t have any detrimental effect on teeth and gums. However, the actual level of damage done is unclear. If it’s anything like other smoking/vaping harms, it may be 99% less harmful for vapers. That could be more akin to the damage done eating a lolly pop rather than that of smoking.