Researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine recently found that smoking also weakens the ability for pulp in teeth to fight illness and disease.In other words, smokers have fewer defense mechanisms on the inside of their teeth. That might explain why smokers have poorer endodontic outcomes and delayed healing than non-smokers, says Anita Aminoshariae, associate professor of endodontics and director of predoctoral endodontics. Imagine TNF-? and hBD-2 are among the soldiers in a last line of defense fortifying a castle. Smoking kills these soldiers before they even have a chance at mounting a solid defense. The...

Adolescents who smoke e-cigarettes are exposed to significant levels of potentially cancer-causing chemicals also found in tobacco cigarettes - even when the e-cigarettes do not contain nicotine - according to a new study by UC San Francisco researchers. The study - published March 5, 2018 in Pediatrics - analyzed urine from a group of adolescents with an average age of 16.4 years. Sixty-seven used e-cigarettes only and 17 used both e-cigarettes and traditional tobacco cigarettes. They were compared with a control group of 20 non-smoking teens. Levels of toxic organic compounds were up to three times higher on average in the...