the times | Wednesday June 8 2022 3times2
packets to make people understand the
risks of them. To have vapes that have
been so appealing, especially to the
younger market, glamorises vaping
and goes against that.”
To buy a vape legally you have to be
over 18 but, Prinja says, “we’re seeing a
lot of much younger people using
these vapes, as young as 14. They’ve
managed to have access because often
they’re not as strictly regulated when
they’re sold from newsagents.”
The flavours of Elf Bars are
named after sweets, fizzy drinks and
puddings, which only makes them
more tempting to that age group.
“There’s a general public perception
that these vapes that are flavoured
more pleasantly are less harmful,”
Prinja says. “They’re considered to
be more like water vapour, rather
than chemical vapour,” he says. To
produce that sweet-tasting vapour
Elf Bars heat vegetable glycerine, an
ingredient that, he says, “makes
teeth more sticky to decay-causing
bacteria, leading to higher rates of
tooth decay”.
Elf Bars contain the maximum
strength of nicotine legally allowed in
the UK, which, Prinja says, is a big
issue. “The standard Geek or Elf Bar
generally has 2 per cent nicotine salt,
which is equivalent to 20mg of
nicotine per ml, or 40mg per bar. That
weighs in as equivalent to about 40
cigarettes in terms of nicotine. A
higher level of nicotine means a higher
chance of developing gum disease.”
Vaping is too new for us to know its
long-term side effects, but research
published in February by the NYU
College of Dentistry found that vaping
may cause gum disease by changing
the unique community of bacteria in
the mouth.
My friends’ opinions of Elf Bars
have shifted. A few months ago when
I whipped one out at the pub it would
be met with coos of delight from the
group. “Ooh, what flavour have you
got? I’ve never tried the banana one.
Give me a puff ?” Now, pulling one
out of my bag is met with a chorus of:
“Haven’t you heard they cause
gum disease?”
These days I feel guilty when I take
a drag on an Elf Bar, and rinse with
Corsodyl mouthwash daily to try and
protect my gums. I have cut down, but
quitting is easier said than done. Lots
of my friends, though, have sworn off
Elf Bars completely since they
stumbled across the videos of vapers’
bleeding gums on TikTok. Ironically,
several of them have returned to
smoking cigarettes, even though we
know they cause lung cancer and
heart disease.
At the pub last weekend I asked one
friend why she was smoking a
Marlboro rather than her usual
watermelon-flavoured Elf Bar. She
replied: “Better the devil you know
than the devil you don’t.”booked an appointment with a
hygienist and asked whether the
bleeding could be caused by vaping.
“Oh, 100 per cent,” her hygienist said.
Stone has cut down on vaping but
regrets introducing her mother, a
former cigarette smoker, to Elf Bars.
“My mum’s addicted as well. She had
gum disease at the start of the year
from the vapes. But she still smokes
them, because we just don’t learn.”
There is a growing divide between
the approach of England and
that of the rest of the world to
e-cigarettes and their potential
dangers. The World Health
Organisation has repeatedly
raised health concerns about
vaping and last year called for
world governments to mount a
“determined effort to stop the
e-cigarette epidemic in its
tracks”. Countries including
Japan, Argentina and India
have made vaping illegal, and
in the US the Food & Drug
Administration tightened
restrictions on vaping two
years ago.
Unlike those on cigarettes,
all the health warnings
printed on Elf Bar packets
say is that they contain
nicotine. Dr Vikas Prinja, a
restorative and cosmetic
dentist at Apple Dental
Studios in Pinner, northwest
London, is concerned about
how stylish and alluring they are made
to look. “Making the intake of nicotine
attractive is not a good idea,” he says.
“We’ve put pictures of people with oral
cancer and tooth loss on cigaretteGeorgina Roberts using
an Elf Bar. Below:
Maisie Stonesaliva would be your natural bodily
defence to wash away any plaque and
bacteria. But when you’re smoking [a
vape], it dries out your mouth. You’ve
got reduced saliva, and therefore the
plaque can stick underneath your gum
line much easier.
“Anything that exposes your teeth
and gums to nicotine and hot vapour,
you are more likely to get gum disease
and, in the long term, lose your teeth.
Your gums don’t bleed normally. If
you’ve got bleeding gums, your body’s
telling you, ‘Help me, there is
something wrong with my gums,’ ” she
says. “If you’re in the cycle of repeated
gum inflammation you’re going to get
more and more gum recession. Your
teeth will start to look longer. When
you smile, you’re going to see a lot
more of the tooth.”
I nervously confess to Ibrahim that
I am an Elf Bar addict myself and ask
what I can do to minimise my risk
of gum disease while using them.
She tells me to switch to a nicotine-
free one, drink water after I vape and
brush my teeth twice a day with
fluoridated toothpaste.
We have become a nation of vapers
and e-cigarette-users. Some 3.6 million
people in Britain, or 7.1 per cent of
adults, use e-cigarettes, according to
research by the charity Action on
Smoking and Health.
The UK has the highest percentage
of e-cigarette-users in Europe, says a
report published last year in the
journal BMC Public Health. The
impact of this can be felt on our high
streets, where vape shops are more
common than dry cleaners, travel
agents or bookshops.Maisie Stone, 21, an eyelash
technician from Bristol, didn’t have to
go to a vape shop, or a shop at all, to
buy her disposable vapes. After a
tutorial she posted on TikTok showing
how to do tricks with Elf Bars got
thousands of views, other disposable
vape brands began asking her to
promote theirs, and sent her free ones.
“I’d smoke more than I usually
would because I was getting free vapes
sent to me, thinking it was the best
thing. That was probably what made
me have gum disease, trying
all these different types of
vape,” she says. “It got to a
point where I was really,
really addicted to them.”
Stone, who hasn’t smoked
cigarettes, began to
experience alarming
symptoms. What started with
headaches and pain in her
lower gums quickly escalated.
“Whenever I brushed [my
teeth] or finished food they
were bleeding, I’d taste blood.
It hurt so badly and was so
inflamed I could barely talk.”
Her gums started receding.
“It got to the point where my
tooth was actually showing
through my gum at the bottom,
it eroded them that badly.”
Initially she thought the
blood and pain were caused by
not brushing her teeth properly,
but when her vape-loving
friends told her their gums had
started bleeding too, alarm bells rang.
When one of her friends quit another
brand of disposable vape, Puff Bars,
and his gums stopped bleeding, StoneGREY HUTTON FOR THE TIMESth
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haddict, so will I get gum disease?
We’re seeing
people as young
as 14 using
these vapes