Who can imagine getting their teeth blown out while enjoying the smoke?
With the vape pen explosions, the unfortunate victims are sometimes lucky enough to have local complications only, while the unlucky ones rapidly succumb to death following a fatal explosion of e-cigarettes.
A 17-year-old Nevada boy, Austin Adams, had an unfortunate incident with e-cigarette due to which he presented to the emergency room of Primary Children’s Hospital, with a two-hour history of pain and swelling in his jaw after an e-cigarette (vape pen) exploded during use.
Upon presentation, he was hemodynamically stable with no respiratory distress. On physical examination, there was a circular punctured wound on this chin, numerous disrupted and dislodged lower incisors, incongruent left mandible, and extensive oral lacerations.
Dr. Katie Russell, Adam’s treating pediatric surgeon said, “He was [using] this vape pen, and it blew up in his face while he was [using] it. This child had a blast injury to his lower jaw, as well as burns around his lip,”
CT scan of the head revealed a comminuted and displaced mandibular fracture. It also showed that the left central and lateral incisors were disrupted (Panel A).
Extraction of the disrupted dentation, debridement of the vaporized (devitalized) tissue along with open reduction and internal fixation of the fracture was performed.
For six weeks, Adam’s jaw was fixed shut allowing only soft food.
This six-week healing period was followed by another surgery for removing the wires (mandibular–maxillary fixation) (Panel B).
“He’s still missing all those teeth, but he’s hoping to get them fixed this summer,” his surgeon said.
Although few teeth were still missing, overall the boy had recovered well.
With a recent surge in the popularity of vape/e-cigarettes, adolescents and youth are adopting the habit, in the name of ‘no harm’. With increasing prevalence, the risks associated with vaping have become a major public health concern.
What is causing the explosions?
The Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for the regulation of tobacco products, as well as e-cigarettes, has correctly accused the lithium batteries.
The lithium-ion batteries, inside the e-cigarettes, have a tendency to overheat. These batteries have two thin plates with a sponge in between soaked in an inflammable liquid. When the plates overheat, the liquid, which is as inflammable as kerosene, can flame up.
This alone has added to the overall burden of burns and related injuries.
A study revealed that more than 2,000 patients visited U.S. emergencies between 2015 and 2017 with e-cigarette burns and explosion-related injuries.
The burns are not only limited to the oral cavity but can also involve other parts, like legs, arms, and hands; depending upon whether the vape explodes in the pockets or in the hands or while smoking.
With an ever-increasing trend of vape-associated adversities, the FDA has sent warning letters to the manufacturers of e-cigarettes and has also suggested them to rework the production of vape, primarily to address the issue of overheating.
REFERENCES:
Micah G. Katz, M. a. (2019, June 20). Injury from E-Cigarette Explosion. Retrieved from The New England Journal of Medicine: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm1813769
Thompson, D. (2019, June 20). Another Vaping Danger: E-Cigarette Explodes in Teen’s Face. Retrieved from WebMD: https://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20190620/another-vaping-danger-e-cigarette-explodes-in-teens-face#1
Sujith V. Cherian, Anupam Kumar, Rosa M. Estrada -Y- Martin. (2020) E-cigarette or Vaping- product associated lung injury: A review. The American Journal of Medicine.
