A newly released study shows that vaping health hazards now include a potentially dangerous bacterial composition inside the mouth.

Researchers at The Ohio State University said people who vaped as little as three months were found to have oral bacteria that resembled that found in periodontitis, a gum infection associated with tooth loss, and eventually, heart and lung disease.

Senior study author and professor of periodontology at The Ohio State University Purnima Kumar told the Ohio State News, “Vaping is such a big assault on the oral environment, and the change happens dramatically and over a short period of time.”

The research was published in the May 27 issue of the medical journal Science Advances.

Vaping Health Hazards Surprise Researchers

Kumar said the patients who vaped had developed a slime over their normally healthy bacterial communities and that the slime activated an inflammatory response that heightens the risks for disease in these individuals.

“The reason we’re all healthy is because our immune system has recognized these bacteria and their functions since birth and has established a sense of harmony,” Kumar explained to the Ohio State News. “The problem is when you throw a curve ball with an environmental shift like this, your immune system doesn’t recognize the bacteria as friends anymore. You have to call the police on them, and that causes a huge inflammatory response.”

The bacterial problem appeared even in people who vaped e-juices that did not contain nicotine. Researchers attribute the bacterial problem to the glycerol and glycol found in vaping e-juices because these sugar alcohols are responsible for the creation of the vape cloud that forms when a vaper exhales. The sugar alcohols provide fuel that changes the chemistry inside the mouth.

Those who have vaped for longer periods of time were found to have worse oral health.

Kumar and fellow researchers anticipated they would find that people who had replaced or supplemented regular cigarettes with e-cigarettes would have better oral health, and were surprised to find out vaping was even worse for the mouth’s immune system.

The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Too Many Youth Continue to Vape

The American Dental Association (ADA) issued a statement on vaping in October 2019 urging people not to use any tobacco or vaping products.

“Vaping is not a safe alternative to cigarettes or other tobacco products,” said ADA President Chad Gehani, D.D.S.

According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office, the U.S. has seen an extraordinary increase in the number of people who vape, particularly the number of young people who aren’t even old enough to legally purchase vaping devices or e-juices.

Back in 2011 only one percent of girls and two percent of boys in middle and high school had used e-cigarettes. A 2018 survey found 19 percent of girls and 23 percent of boys were vapers, and most aren’t even aware of vaping health hazards.

“E-cigarettes are a 2.5 billion-dollar-business in the United States,” says the Surgeon General’s website. “As of 2014, the e-cigarette industry spent $125 million a year to advertise their products and used many of the techniques that made traditional cigarettes such a popular consumer product.”

One of the main avenues that e-cigarette makers used to reach a large youth population didn’t even exist when smoking became popular in the 1960s. Social media, including popular sites such as Instagram, helped promote e-cigarettes as the newest, coolest thing among America’s youth. By using young-looking models and promoting candy-flavored e-juices, the Juul brand dominated the youth vaping market.

Earlier this year, sweet-flavored and mint-flavored e-juice cartridges were banned, but menthol and tobacco flavors persist. Also, some refillable open-tank vaping devices have been able to use a loophole in the law that still allows them to create and sell sweet-flavored vaping e-juices.