There are two key symptoms to look out for if you believe you could be suffering from vaper's tongue. These are a white coating on your tongue and a complete inability to taste your usual flavour of vape.
The symptoms of 'vaper tongue'
Symptoms of 'vaper's tongue' include a numb tongue, failure to taste your vape flavour or even experiencing an unpleasant taste from your vape. It can even impact your taste generally, meaning you cannot taste food properly.
What is vaper's tongue? Vaper's tongue happens because vaping leads to dehydration and dries the mouth, which can diminish the sensitivity of taste buds, writes Vaping360.com.
To help alleviate vape tongue quickly, you can try drinking plenty of water, staying hydrated, avoiding vapes for a short period, using a tongue scraper, and trying strong flavors or mentholated products to help reset your taste buds.
Most parents are positive they would definitely or probably know if their child vaped from their kids telling them, finding vaping supplies in their child's things, detecting it by smell or finding out from other people.
Vaper's tongue can last anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks. The highest reported duration from vapers who've experienced this condition is 2 weeks. The most common duration, however, is 2 to 3 days. Your vape tongue would recover faster if try applying known remedies to cure it.
The symptoms are easy to read and can include weaker flavour or no flavour whatsoever from your favourite e-liquid. You needn't worry too much if you're experiencing any of these symptoms because the vaper's tongue is not permanent and there are many ways to cure it!
1: Vaping is less harmful than smoking, but it's still not safe.
Oral tissue has a tendency to heal more quickly than other tissues in the body. However, if you vape, the chemicals found in e-juice tend to impede your mouth's ability to heal. According to a study published in The Brink from Boston University2, vaping can slow wound healing just as much as smoking cigarettes.
E-cigarette users also have been known to develop lacy white patches on the gums, tongue or insides of the cheeks, a condition called an oral lichenoid reaction, according to the report. Oral thrush also can develop in vapers, caused by an overgrowth of Candida yeast in the mouth.
The difference between smoking and vaping is that smoking delivers nicotine by burning tobacco, which can cause smoking-related illnesses, and vaping can deliver nicotine by heating a liquid in a much less harmful way.
Vaper's Tongue Symptoms
There are two key symptoms to look out for if you believe you could be suffering from vaper's tongue. These are a white coating on your tongue and a complete inability to taste your usual flavour of vape.
Vapers tongue is a phrase used to describe not being able to taste vape juice. It is said that most vapers will experience this from time to time. This inconvenience usually lasts for 1-3 days but at worst can last for up to two weeks! Why is it happening? Vaping can sometimes cause a dry mouth much like smoking does.
One of the most common side effects of vaping is a dry mouth. Some humectants in e-cigarettes, like propylene glycol, for example, can cause mouth dryness. Mouth dryness can produce bad breath, mouth sores and even cause tooth decay.
The most common causes of halitosis are:³ Smoking/vaping: Smoking or vaping dries out the tissues in your mouth and causes your mouth to produce less saliva. Saliva is what keeps your mouth clean and healthy so when you don't produce enough saliva, bacteria builds up in your mouth and causes bad breath.
Constantly filling your mouth with sugar-rich vapour gives the bacteria in your mouth the means to endlessly produce acid. Combine this with the mouth-drying effects of hot vapour and you are leaving your teeth very vulnerable to decay.
Other conditions resulting from vaping can include oral lesions, oral thrush, and what's known as “black, hairy tongue,” which occurs when discolored dead cells and bacteria build up on the tongue, giving it a black, fuzzy appearance. Oral lichenoid reaction may also develop.
Tongue & Mouth Irritation
Some people have reported having negative side effects such as their tongue and mouth becoming irritated once they started vaping and even getting blisters on their lips or in between their lip lines.
You may also find thin metallic coils or empty plastic vials in the garbage or your teen's car. Those are less obvious but still clear signs that someone is vaping. Parents can sometimes find evidence of vaping through smell, but the aroma of vaping can be harder to detect than the smell of cigarettes.