HealthDay (2/22, Norton) reports researchers “tracked the oral health of 84 adults” across three groups – cigarette smokers, e-cigarette users, and nonsmokers – and found that “vapers showed a unique oral microbiome: it was, potentially, healthier than that of smokers, but differed from that of nonsmokers.” In comparison “to nonsmokers, both smokers and vapers harbored greater amounts of the bacteria Selenomonas, Leptotrichia and Saccharibacteria,” and “certain bacteria known to promote gum disease – including Fusobacterium and Bacteroidales – were particularly abundant in the mouths of e-cigarette users.”
In addition, DrBicuspid (2/22, Welk) reports that “e-cigarette users had higher levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), a cytokine related to inflammation, and lower levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and IL-1-beta, cytokines that tend to be reduced in people with untreated gum diseases.” The “findings suggest the oral bacteria in e-cigarette users may be actively suppressing the immune system, the authors noted.” The study was published in the journal mBio.
