Oral Health Effects among Conventional Cigarette and Electronic Cigarette Smoking among Users in Saudi Arabia

Introduction: The use of e cigarettes is on the rise in the Middle East Countries and Saudi Arabia especially.This study aims to evaluate the oral mucosal lesions caused due to electronic cigarette smoking (ECS) use and oral health, including ‘gingival pain and/or bleeding’, ‘tongue and/or inside-cheek pain’, and ‘cracked or broken teeth’ among adolescents.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted among 1300 participant in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia using a reliable and valid online questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed by the investigators and Google forms were used to collect the information. The questions were grouped into categories relating to socio-demographic data (age, gender), type of cigarette smoking (conventional, E-cigarette or booth), and cigarette smoking behavior (frequency).

Results: It was observed from the present study that even though oral mucosal lesions were more in conventional cigarette smokers but e cigarettes were not the safe option as it has ill effects also. Females used e cigarettes more (30.7%) as compared to males (28.2%). Statistically significant results were obtained for change in color of gingival, disturbed feeling in the tongue (p<0.000).

Conclusion: The usage of e cigarettes was seen more among females than males. The oral health effects and especially the change in color, dryness of the oral cavity and discoloration of the teeth were seen more with the conventional cigarettes users than the e cigarettes users. E cigarettes were also associated with ill effects of the oral cavity.