VAPING DANGERS
Local dentist offers services to educate, combat epidemic
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.
>> Dr. Gregory Dodd of Saratoga Springs Family Dentistry is on the front lines of confronting a national health issue that has reached epidemic proportions in American culture and is impacting the health of many of his patients locally.
He addresses the real and harmful effects in patients presenting at his practice with damage that has occurred as a result of vaping.
In the most recent data available, the National Institute of Health, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, cites that more than 44,000 students took part in the 2018 annual survey of drug, alcohol, and cigarette use in eighth, 10th, and 12th-graders.
About 37% of 12th-graders reported vaping in 2018, compared with 28% in 2017. Vaping of each substance that was asked about increased. This includes nicotine, flavored liquids, marijuana, and hash oil.
There have been 530 confirmed and probable cases of lung injuries related to e-cigarettes as of Sept. 17, 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In addition to being an accomplished medical professional in dentistry, Dodd is a husband and father with children attending a local middle school
who had to explain to his children what vaping was and why it is a habit to steer clear of if they value their overall health and well-being.
Dodd, a qualified expert in dental and oral health received a BS in Biochemistry from Gettysburg College, and worked as a senior scientist for five years at Block Drug Company, where he holds multiple patents in the dental field, including one for Sensodyne Toothpaste.
He completed a doctorate in dental surgery (DDS) from Columbia University, completed advanced education in General Dentistry Residency from Columbia University, has a fellowship in the Academy of General Dentistry (FAGD) and is a sustaining member of the Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry.
Dodd co-owns seven dental offices in the Capital Region.
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Why is vaping an unhealthy and actually quite dangerous practice?
“The big reason vaping is so dangerous is because we don’t have a lot of studies yet. We don’t know exactly what it does to the lungs, exactly what its effect is on the body. It’s a new product, a new delivery system, the regulations aren’t as tight on these products. There are different manufacturers, formulations and delivery systems; all that plays a role into how vaping affects the lungs, or the mouth or the overall systems.
“Right now, we are learning more about it. This product was invented as a way to get people to stop smoking. It was going to be an alternative to smoking and a better delivery system and safer way than combustible tobacco.”
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But we know, nonetheless, that most e-cigarettes, including what are called tanks and mods, the rechargeable e-cigarettes, or the disposable variety, contain nicotine, which has been used as a pesticide since 1690. Anyway you look at it, it’s every bit as addictive. Same players, new products.
“They are just as addictive as cigarettes, that’s for sure. The idea was it was going to decrease some of the other products that are in combustible tobacco that are harmful. But, unfortunately, we’re starting to see that there are some effects of heating these elements up, super heating these chemicals up, whether it’s the propylene glycol or the flavoring oils and how it’s affecting people when they inhale that into their lungs as opposed to ingesting it.”
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We see signs of this everywhere. Here, in Saratoga Springs, in Wilton and throughout the region we see little shops have cropped up and still have signs advertising these products by brand name. The average person may not be aware of the science involved. You have prepared a thorough, very visual presentation about the consequences of using these product as well as helping parents and loved ones to identify the packaging and appearance of various delivery methods.
“The class of these things is electronic nicotine delivery systems. That covers the whole list of devices, from mechanical mods to new tech devices like Blu and Juul, that dominated the market, down to your disposable e-cigarettes.”
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Shockingly enough, what that means is that there is a lithium battery contained in a however cunningly slim, elegant, or trendy looking package. The bottom line is it’s a battery that when heated, can also explode.
“The worst ones that were causing the biggest problems were called mechanical mods, larger tank style devices that didn’t have any built in safety features. No automatic shutoff valve if the lithium ion battery was getting too hot, so the only way you could tell was if the tank itself was getting hot.”
(Reporter’s Note: Please see FDA/US Food and Drug Administration document attached to this article online by FDA Ned Sharpless, M.D., Acting Commissioner on this topic, dated Sept. 10, 2019. See also: Sept. 15, 2019 - Governor Andrew Cuomo announces an emergency executive action to ban the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes in New York State. Cuomo also signed legislation to raise the age to purchase tobacco and electronic cigarette products from 18 to 21, effective Nov. 13, 2019.
Dodd: “The State issued an emergency 90-day ban that went into effect in September due to 74 cases at that time in New York alone of severe lung disease linked to vaping.”
••• So the data from various hospitals resulted in emergency legislation?
“Right. A lot of localities across the country have banned the flavoring oils in these products. The classic case is what is called popcorn lung, with the chemical Diacetyl, or 2,3-butanedione, a chemical that has been used to give butter-like and other flavors to food products, including microwaved popcorn. It’s safe to eat but when factory workers were heating it, they were coming down with this strange lung disease that turned out to come from breathing in this otherwise safe chemical.
“It got into the terminal branches of the lungs and breaking down the alveoli that are an important part of the respiratory system whose function it is to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules to and from the bloodstream.
“That’s just one example of flavoring oils thought to be safe but when heated and inhaled, it’s a different product. These oils are in super high concentrations in these pods, higher than typically found in food fo the most part.” Same with glycerin. When it’s heated and applied in your mouth, it can cause problems.
“Walk down Caroline Street early following a Friday and Saturday night on a weekend and see the litter from these things. It used to be just cigarette butts; now you have your share of empty Juul pods.”
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So that’s where we are now. Doctor, how many years have you been in practice here?
“I’ve been here at this practice for 15 years. The practice has been here since 1972.”
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How long have people been presenting themselves here in your practice suffering with the effects of vaping?
“I would say we started getting questions about it over the last three years or so. My biggest awareness came from my daughter, who just turned 12, and is in the seventh grade, whose classmates were doing it. She came home when she started middle school about two years ago asking about vaping.
“Studies show that about 20 percent of all eighth grade students have vaped in the last 30 days, while for high school seniors, that number is 25 percent. Eleven percent of high school seniors claim to vape daily.”
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From a practical point of view, how expensive is vaping? As a photographer who carries rechargeable lithium batteries for my work, I know they alone are not inexpensive. What does this stuff cost? “I don’t know.” (Reporter’s note: A web source said an affordable vape pen, replacement coils and juice may cost as little as $50 for the first month, while a full-featured box mod paired with an MTL tank, coils and “juice” may go up to $120. After that, one should expect an average of $30-60 per month for coils and “juice”).
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I think of American ingenuity and the good things that came out of that inventiveness. We have a whole generation so used to electronic devices-you get in a car and hear direct marketing over the radio for these products targeted at this age range, let alone to adults.
“Viacom, CBS and Time Warner said they’ll no longer do adds. even though cigarette ads have been banned since the ‘70’s. There are, however, over 300,000 videos on You Tube focused on e-cigarettes, at over 100 million views.”
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I remember Correspondent Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes going after the tobacco industry and interviewing Jeffrey Wigand, former director of research for Brown & Williamson, the country’s third largest tobacco company at the time in 1995.
“People are far more aware now, but the problem has been the ingredients were hidden. With more government exposure, it’s all coming out.
“Sixty percent of all adults who vape also use tobacco, and 40 percent of your people who use tobacco also vape. That is according to the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.”
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Doctor, what I am hearing from you is get to the kids early.
“Yes; it’s not good for you or the person next to you breathing this stuff in. They don’t understand the risk they’re taking.
“If anyone has any questions or would like to call, maybe they have a child whose doing it and they’d like to bring them in, I’ll be glad to sit down and talk to both of you. I invite you to give our office a call.”
Reporter’s Update
In October, a 17-yearold boy received a doublelung transplant after damage caused by vaping left his lungs scarred, stiffened and pocked with dead spots, according to a report from The New York Times. Dr. Hassan Nemeh, the lead surgeon on the team at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, told The Times the young man would’ve faced certain death without the surgery.
The Times’ report said that the CT scans of the patient’s lungs looked like his chest was empty prior to the transplant. Normal lungs appear dark on CT imaging because they’re full of air. The scan reportedly didn’t pick up an image because there was no air in the lungs.
To arrange a showing of Dr. Dodd’s presentation on the dangers of vaping, or to to meet with him to discuss vaping related concerns, call his office at (518) 584-8150.