Study Says Vaping Does Not Stain Teeth

One of the most visible consequences of smoking cigarettes is the annoying yellow stain on the front of someone’s teeth which has been proven to not only be unhealthy in a general mouth hygene sense, but also unpleasant for the image-conscious.

The latest study to address this issue comes from British American Tobacco (BAT), who hired scientists to examine the discoloration of a cow’s teeth exposed to cigarette smoke and e-cigarette vapor over a two-week period. The results were good news for e-cigarettes: the [tobacco smoke exposed] cow’s teeth changed colors almost immediately, while the teeth exposed to vaping showed “minimal change in color.”

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The results were presented at an annual conference for the American Association for Dental Research. The study has confirmed (again) what we in the vaping community have long suspected: that teeth stains are caused by tar found in combustible cigarettes.

The pictures accompanying the article linked above reveal an immediately visible difference to the cow’s teeth, which was enough for British American to conclude that teeth exposed to smoke were rapidly discolored as opposed to teeth exposed to vape.

'After the first day, the teeth exposed to the smoke extract started to change color and over the course of 14 days, these teeth got darker and darker in color,' BAT said. 'Even with the naked eye, the color changes with the cigarette extract could be easily seen after one day. In contrast to teeth exposed to smoke those exposed to e-cigarette or THP vapor exhibited minimal change in color, similar to untreated teeth.'

BAT said that cow’s teeth are often used in research in lieu of human teeth and used to test the effects of products like toothpaste and mouthwash.

Additionally, the cow teeth were prepared to make them more like human teeth. First, they were polished using sandpaper to make them seem more human-like. Then they were incubated at body temperature in human saliva (yick) in order to mimic the conditions of a human mouth. Some teeth were also incubated in solvent with no extract at all to act as a control.

This incubation results in the creation of the so-called pellicle layer on the teeth, which is the smooth film you can feel on your teeth when you rub your tongue over them.  It is the normal protein layer that forms on teeth when certain molecules in saliva bond to the tooth enamel.

According to the case study, a “puffing robot” was used in the research process to evenly distribute smoke and vapor. In both cases, the smoke or vapor was collected onto a filter pad and a solvent was used to extract solid material from the filter pad, which was then tested on the cow’s teeth.

Study creepiness aside, we think you'll agree that the results confirm yet another tangible benefit of dropping the smokes and picking up a vape.