For the first time, researchers have shown that technical innovations to snus pouches can help reduce sores and irritation in consumers’ mouths.

The findings come from a recent study showing that irritation, ulcers, or similar lesions on the oral mucosa linked to snus use can be prevented with a new pouch design.

The researchers behind the study, which was published in the journal Acta Odontologica Scandinavica, examined how different snus pouch designs affected tissue in the mouth. 

The trial participants were all Swedish dentists. And the results were clear: with small, technical changes, both irritation and mucosal damage can be significantly reduced.

”This is a breakthrough that dramatically strengthens the role of snus as the least harmful alternative to smoking,” entrepreneur Bengt Wiberg, one of the initiators behind the research, tells Snusforumet.

”The study shows that local irritation is not inevitable, but something that can be solved with better product design.”

After struggling with mouth irritation linked to snus, Wiberg founded Stingfree AB in 2014, a Swedish startup company that has developed and patented a technology that protects snus users’ gums.

”Daily snus users can have problems with their gums and mucous membrane. The issues are, of course, minor compared to those associated with the alternative of smoking, but are still something that can cause discomfort,” he explains. 

”Now the study results show that this problem seems to have been solved, which makes snus an even stronger public health tool against smoking.”

Decisive from a public health perspective

Wiberg points out that one of the main medical objections to snus, in addition to the fact that it contains nicotine, has always been about local oral irritation.

”Now that we know that these effects can be eliminated, the last major argument against snus as a less harmful alternative to cigarettes disappears,” he says.

The research strengthens the image of snus as a product with very low risk compared to smoking. Previous studies have already shown that snus does not increase the risk of oral cancer, which has often been misinterpreted in public health debates. The new study also shows that even mild mucosal changes observed previously can be prevented.

”There is still a persistent perception that snus causes serious oral diseases, but this is not true,” Wiberg says.

”The visible changes in the mucosa can be experienced as unpleasant but are normally not dangerous and are reversible if use is discontinued. And now they can be avoided entirely through new technology.”

Refutes persistent EU opposition

The timing of this research is significant. In several European countries, including France, authorities have justified stricter regulations and bans on nicotine pouches with references to oral health. According to Wiberg, the new results show that science points in the opposite direction.

”Banning less harmful nicotine products on false grounds undermines public health,” he explains.

”This study shows that technological improvements can not only reduce irritation, they can also remove one of the last barriers to a more risk-proportionate view of nicotine products.”

The study was published in Acta Odontologica Scandinavica and is available via Medical Journal Sweden.