Association of self-reported symptoms of xerostomia with vaping and cigarette smoking: a cross-sectional study

Introduction
Vaping was first introduced as safe alternative to smoking and as a promising method to quit smoking. However, with the passage of time, cumulative adverse effects of this new device on general and dental health start to emerge. Xerostomia is known to be associated with cigarette smoking but this effect is not well explored with vaping.  Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the association of self-reported xerostomia with vaping and cigarette smoking.

Material and methods
A questionnaire was designed to collect demographic data including age, gender, employment status, and educational level. Smoking-related data were also collected including reason for using vaping devices, frequency and duration of smoking methods. The last part aimed to estimate xerostomia via a 5-point Likert scale.

Results
A total of 732 participants (25.4% cigarette smokers, 63.8% vapers, 10.8% never-smokers) were included in the final analysis. The analysis showed that cigarette smokers had significantly higher xerostomia scores than the other two groups. Similarly, xerostomia scores of individuals using vaping was significantly higher than never-smokers. Further analysis showed that subjects in the cigarette smoker group, with high school education or below, had significantly higher scores than other educational levels. For vapers, increasing frequency of vaping > 20 days/month significantly increased symptoms of xerostomia.

Conclusions
Xerostomia is an expected and highly perceived symptom among cigarette smokers. Vape device users also may experience symptoms of xerostomia more than never-smokers.