I went to the dentist today, and since I read this thread last night and have been smoke free for 2 weeks I asked him about the bleeding gums. This is what he said. Smoking is a main contributor to periodontal gum disease and when he was a student he was shocked by patients who had advanced gum disease but no bleeding so he asked his instructor how that is possible. His instructor told him to check the patients medical history and he would find they were a smoker. He said smoking causes the blood vessels to constrict which prevents the bleeding you would expect from the disease it causes. When you quit smoking the body begins to heal and blood begins to flow to the gums again which will stop the disease from progressing, but the gums will bleed because of the damage already caused by the lack of blood flow to that area. He said it will heal and is actually a good sign. Of course you need to have your teeth cleaned regularly and maybe even more frequently like every three months for the first year. He also said that brushing more frequently, but gently would also help with the healing process and help reduce some of the bleeding you have when you brush. He said for some people when they first stop smoking their gums will bleed profusely when they brush them, but brushing was critical to the healing process.
!
The throat dryness is caused by the vapor itself and that would happen even if you vaped sterile, distilled water and no PG or nicotine in it. Vapor, even though vaper is water, passing over membranes has a drying effect and your lungs and membrane don't absorb the droplets - why you have vapor to exhale, and sometime the vapor (because of its mechanics) picks up moisture off membrane and tissues and carries it along. Explains why some people feel their exhales are 'thicker' vapor then inhales. Its the level of moisture in the vapor that makes the 'whiteness', just like breathing out on a cold day, or like fog, etc. The more water droplets the more cloud, not what many think - that the thicker the cloud means more water has been removed. Then there is the drying properties of the glycerine and the glycol which removes more moisture and everything is very dry.
Few other tips that can help are using a dry mouth toothpaste. It promotes saliva production among other things which is very important to the health of your mouth. Don't use daily whitening toothpastes (some of the whitening property also dehydrate) this goes for daily whitening mouthwashes; consider, instead, mouthwash for people with chronic dry mouth. Don't use mouthwash with alcohol in it as that will dry out membranes, too. If 'chain vaping' makes your mouth continue to be dry even once you gums have healed you may just need to keep using toothpaste and mouthwash for chronic dry mouth.
Chronic dryness which is a problem even with of people who never smoked or vaped can also lead to dental issues no matter the underlying cause or mechanism for the dryness. Might as well get into the habit of keeping the mouth moist by promoting saliva production as part of what saliva does is to protect tooth enamel and the gums from disease because if you are chain vaping you are going to be drying out. Dry mucous membrane will crack and bleed and once you get opening in the membranes they particulate matter as well as bacteria can get into these small cracks and cause issues unless they get rinsed away.
Increase that water intake. Its a new habit you have to teach yourself. I actually gauge myself to make sure that aside from a normal intake of water I drink another 16oz bottle for ever 1.6 ml I vapor. Because of the way the lungs and mucous membranes work vapor itself (without the other things in e-juice) has a drying effect even if it is 'water vapor' and actually can take moisture out of the lungs along with some of it that you just inhaled. This is why you see some people wondering why they aren't hacking up tar and gunk right away - its because the lungs need extra moisture to liquefy the matter that stuck in there and get it moving out. As vaping has this dehydrating effect the lungs may not be moist enough to do that until you body adjusts to keeping everything moist and until you give it enough water to work with. Thats not everyone, of course, we are all different but that is why some can be very productive right away and its takes others longer and they worry that they might not get what's in there out.
Also, 'acidity' (some fruit juice, citric acid based soda and sports drinks and so on) or 'sugary' drinks are not a replacement for the fluid - sugar or sugar substitute can have a dry effect on membranes and many soda dehydrate you. If you're a heavy cola (or other sugary soda) drinker try to start making your self alternate water for every other soda you would normally drink. It will replace fluid that the soda dehydrated plus move sugars and acids out away from your gums and teeth and keep them much more moist. Soda and juices can taste and feel very refreshing and you think that they are repleting your fluids but that is not the case.
With vaping and recovering from the attack of 4000 chemicals from analog the H2O more important then electrolyte replacement so sports drinks and replacement drink not what you want except of you are exercising and drink for the electrolytes depleted then. Sports and 'replacement' drinks usually contain a lot of sugar (to replace what's lost through exercise) but drinking them regularly during the day when your not means the sugar is extra and in your mouth its drying it and bugging tooth enamel and gums. It should go without saying that beer and liquor dehydrate too. No reason not to drink any of these things if you want to but don't count them as you 'water replacement for vaping' intake. Alternating water between those other things keeps everything well balanced.
If your throat stays sore even with good fluid intake for more then a week (or you run a fever or anything that is a sign you might be sick) its a good idea to have a checkup with your MD. If you had a a lot of drying going on and came in contact with someone coughing bacteria out in the air its possible that the bacteria had a very easy way to get past the membranes protective processes and set up a bit of infection.
We don't think about this a lot when we move from analogs to the vaping alternative but like any time someone quits smoking the recommendation is to have a health check up with your MD - whether you're slapping on a patch, chewing gum, taking medication. There are a lot of sudden changes happening in your body as well as slow ones. Its really a good idea if you have put away the analogs to go see the doctor, brag about success (teaching them about vaping if necessary) and get a good physical
They also have a bunch of prescription remedies for dry mounths and throats in case nothing is working for you.
