The health dangers of e-cigarettes are still being studied. However, a very obvious existential danger is that the device can sometimes explode.
Most recently, a teenager in the US was seriously injured when an electronic cigarette exploded in his mouth, breaking his jaw.
The 17-year-old boy arrived at the emergency room two hours after the blast, according to a report published on June 19 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The patient had multiple wounds in his mouth, multiple lost teeth and a broken lower jaw, said Dr. Katie Russell, a pediatric injury surgeon at the University of Utah and Salt Lake City Primary Hospital.
Doctors had to remove some teeth from the boy's mouth because the jaw had broken. The boy's mouth could not close, so the doctors blocked his jaw for six weeks to give him time to heal - Dr. Russell shared on Live Science.
Dr. Russell and her colleagues wanted to publish this case because they were surprised by the extent of the damage caused by e-cigarettes.
"When I met this patient, I didn't know that a vape (electronic cigarette) smoking device could do this. It takes a lot of effort to break your jaw. The guy completely quit smoking after this incident," Russell said.
It has now been more than a year since the incident, and many reports of e-cigarette explosions have been released.
In February, a 24-year-old man in Texas died after a vape exploded on his face and cracked a large artery in his neck, according to CNN.
According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), e-cigarette explosions seem very rare, but they are very dangerous. The exact cause of the explosions is unknown.
In the boy's case, the device was in good condition and did not show any problems before the explosion, said Dr. Russell.
Some evidence suggests that the device's battery problems could have led to an explosion, the FDA said. To help prevent these explosions, the FDA recommends that users avoid charging an e-cigarette overnight or leaving the device unchescked while charging; avoid using a mobile phone or tablet charger with the device; replace the vape penny battery if it is broken or wet; and protect the device from extreme heat or cold temperatures, such as not leaving the device in direct sunlight or in a cold or hot vehicle for long periods of time.
Dr. Russell hopes the incident will help warn about the risks of these devices.
