Conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas en salud bucal en un grupo de vapeadores

Abstract

Summary. In Colombia, tobacco consumption is one of the main risk factors for chronic diseases, such as cancer, pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases, among others, which mostly affect young people and adults. For this reason, the regulation of sales and prohibitions is governed by law 1335 of 2009, which aims to guarantee the right to health in the national territory, especially for minors. For this reason, alternative tobacco products such as vaporizers became popular among young people, these are devices that work through a battery, which allows the creation of a vapor that is inhaled by the person performing such activity, this vapor can contain nicotine or nicotine salts according to consumer preference. Over the years, it has become evident that vapeo as a practice has been increasing and its high use has become a public health problem, since it is being used as an alternative to stop smoking conventional cigarettes, due to the health problems that tobacco causes. Objective. The following research aims to describe the knowledge, attitudes and practices in oral health of a group of vapers. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on people who use vaper devices between the ages of 18-70 years. A survey was conducted to measure the knowledge, attitudes and practices in oral health among users of vaporizers, this instrument was disseminated through social networks and shared through the virtual platform Google Forms, where participants answered the questions and were then analyzed. Results. It was established that the group of vapers surveyed have favorable oral hygiene knowledge and habits, where good use of auxiliary elements for oral hygiene is evidenced, as well as a good frequency of brushing. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the use of the vaporizer, since it can be identified that the concomitant use with the conventional cigarette can generate negative health consequences. Conclusions. It was evidenced that the male sex was the predominant sex in the use of the vaporizer in relation to the female sex. The group of vapers possess favorable knowledge, attitudes and practices in oral health. Likewise, the majority of those surveyed used the vaporizer as an aid to stop smoking the conventional cigarette and it can be said that there is still considerable ignorance about the damage that these devices can cause to health. For this reason, it is important that more research is carried out on the subject due to the great boom that is currently evident.