Vaping Under the Microscope: Unpacking Iranian Dentists' Insights on Electronic Cigarettes and Their Impact on Oral Health.

BACKGROUND

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have become significantly popular, especially among young people. E-cigarettes are a form of tobacco use in which the smoke produced by the vaporization of nicotine is inhaled. The increase in the consumption of these cigarettes causes many concerns about their long-term and unknown adverse effects on general and oral health. The present study was conducted to determine the level of awareness of dentists participating in the 15th Annual Scientific Congress of the Iranian General Dentists Association about e-cigarettes.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, the dentists selected by convenience sampling were given a questionnaire including 14 awareness questions. After the participants completed it, the data were statistically analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and an independent samples t-test.

FINDINGS: A total of 347 dentists participated in the present study, and 36.9% stated that they had no familiarity with e-cigarettes. The answers of more than half of the participants to questions regarding the relative risk of using this type of smoking as a suitable method to quit other types of tobacco, long-term adverse effects on health, and the risk of explosion of these cigarettes were incorrect. The average score of awareness was 7.88±3.25 out of a total of 14, indicating an overall moderate level of knowledge.

CONCLUSION

The average knowledge score related to the subject under investigation was moderate, and the knowledge in some aspects was not satisfactory.