August 2008
smokeless tobacco
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Leukoplakia |
Using chewing tobacco and other smokeless tobacco products can cause serious health problems, from gum irritation to oral cancer.
Addiction
Chewing tobacco gets you hooked on nicotine, similar to the way cigarettes do. And once you're addicted, it becomes difficult to stop using chewing tobacco. Just as with smoking, withdrawal from chewing tobacco causes signs and symptoms such as intense cravings, increased appetite, irritability and depressed mood.
People who use chewing tobacco eventually develop a tolerance for nicotine and need more tobacco to feel the desired effects of the nicotine. Some people switch to brands with higher nicotine content and tend to use chewing tobacco more frequently the longer they've been using smokeless products. More severely addicted users may leave the chew in their mouths overnight and swallow the tobacco juices.
Cavities
Chewing tobacco and other forms of smokeless tobacco cause tooth decay. That's because chewing tobacco contains high amounts of sugar, which contributes to cavities. Chewing tobacco also contains coarse particles that can irritate your gums and scratch away at the enamel on your teeth, making your teeth more vulnerable to cavities.
Gum disease
The sugar and irritants in chewing tobacco and other forms of smokeless tobacco can cause your gums to pull away from your teeth in the area of your mouth where you place the chew. Over time you can develop gum disease (gingivitis) and possibly tooth loss.
Heart problems and non-oral cancer
Smokeless tobacco increases your heart rate and blood pressure. Some evidence suggests that it may put you at an increased risk of heart attack. People who use smokeless tobacco also have higher cholesterol levels than those who don't use tobacco. And a study published in June 2007 in the medical journal The Lancet showed a connection between the use of one form of smokeless tobacco (snus) and an increased risk of pancreatic cancer.
Precancerous mouth lesions
People who use smokeless tobacco are more likely to develop small white patches called leukoplakia (loo-ko-PLA-ke-uh) inside their mouths where the chew is most often placed. These mouth lesions are precancerous — meaning that the sores could one day develop into cancer. After stopping tobacco usage, the lesions usually go away in a few weeks or a few months.
Oral cancer
Your risk of oral cancer is increased if you use smokeless tobacco. Oral cancer includes cancers of the mouth, throat, cheek, gums, lips and tongue. Surgery to remove cancer from any of these areas can leave your jaw, chin, neck or face disfigured.
Smokeless doesn't mean harmless
If you aren't convinced that chewing tobacco, spit tobacco and other forms of smokeless tobacco aren't risk-free, consider the words of someone who's seen the damage tobacco can do. Joe Garagiola, a former spit tobacco user, played major league baseball and later worked in broadcasting. After retiring from baseball he became a crusader against spit tobacco — the term he prefers since "smokeless" makes tobacco sound harmless.
Joe Garagiola
"I chewed tobacco because it seemed to be the thing to do if you were playing baseball," says Garagiola. "Everybody chewed when I was playing, and nobody knew the dangers of it." But he's seen the dangers since, losing three close friends to oral cancer and seeing the harmful effects of spit tobacco on other people.
"You won't die of gum disease or yellow teeth, but develop oral cancer and it's a terrible way to go," Garagiola says. "Here you are with oral cancer from using spit tobacco, your jaw has been removed and you have to eat through a tube. You die one piece at a time. Spit tobacco is a horrible, horrible thing. I just wish I could get this message across to everyone."
It's never too late to quit
If you're using smokeless tobacco, quit. Now that you know the dangers associated with it, you have extra motivation to give it up. Here's what to do:
- Set a quit date. Mark your quit day on your calendar and commit to it. Select a day at least one week away so that you have time to prepare for your life as a former tobacco user.
- Talk to your doctor. Tell your doctor about your goal to quit using smokeless tobacco and ask for advice. Smokeless tobacco users have more success with quitting if they talk to a doctor or dentist about strategies for quitting.
- Consider medications. Ask your doctor about medications that can help you quit, such as over-the-counter nicotine replacement products, including patches, gum, inhalers and lozenges. There are also non-nicotine prescription medications such as bupropion (Zyban) and varenicline (Chantix) that can ease nicotine withdrawal symptoms when you quit.
- Get support. Join a support group in your area. Go online. Get help and support from people who understand what you're going through. Free resources are available, so don't worry about a financial cost.
Devise a plan to deal with cravings and know that cravings typically last only a few minutes. Eating licorice, chewing gum, going for a walk or calling a friend can help you get through them. And the interval between cravings increases the longer you've stopped using tobacco and eventually the cravings will go away.
Report: Ban smoking in public places
Surgeon general says 126 million nonsmokers exposed to tobacco hazards
WASHINGTON - Separate smoking sections don’t cut it: Only smoke-free buildings and public places truly protect nonsmokers from the hazards of breathing in other people’s tobacco smoke, says a long-awaited surgeon general’s report.
Some 126 million nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke, what U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona repeatedly calls “involuntary smoking” that puts people at increased risk of death from lung cancer, heart disease and other illnesses.
Moreover, there is no risk-free level of exposure to someone else’s drifting smoke, declares the report issued Tuesday — a conclusion sure to fuel already growing efforts at public smoking bans nationwide. Fourteen states have passed what are considered comprehensive smoke-free workplace laws, those that include restaurants and bars.
But the surgeon general is especially concerned about young children who can’t escape their parents’ addiction in search of cleaner air: Just over one in five children is exposed to secondhand smoke at home, where workplace bans don’t reach. Those children are at increased risk of SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome; lung infections such as pneumonia; ear infections; and more severe asthma.
“Exposure to secondhand smoke remains an alarming public health hazard,” Carmona said. “Nonsmokers need protection through the restriction of smoking in public places and workplaces” — and by smokers voluntarily not puffing around children.
TOBACCO AND
HEALTH
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls tobacco the number one cause of preventable death in America. Since 1964, 28 Surgeon General’s reports on smoking and health have concluded that tobacco use is the single most avoidable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined -- and thousands more die from other tobacco-related causes -- such as fires caused by smoking (more than 1,000 deaths/year nationwide) and smokeless tobacco use.
Health Facts
(Source: American Cancer Society website)
- Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States for both men and women. (Source: Cancer Facts and Figures 2007)
- Lung cancer is the most preventable form of cancer death in our society. (Source: Cancer Facts and Figures 2007)
- 87% of lung cancer deaths can be attributed to tobacco use. (Source: Cancer Facts and Figures 2007)
- Besides lung cancer, tobacco use also causes increased risk for cancer of the mouth, nasal cavities, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, kidney, bladder, uterine cervix, and myeloid leukemia. (Source: Cancer Prevention and Early Detection 2005)
- In the United States, tobacco use is responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths or an estimated 440,000 deaths per year during 1995-1999. (Source: MMWR, CDC, Annual smoking-attributable mortality and years of potential life lost and economic costs-United States, 1995-1999. 2002: 51:300-303.)
- In 2006, more than 170,000 cancer deaths will be caused by tobacco use. (Source: Cancer Prevention and Early Detection 2006)
- Tobacco use accounts for at least 30% of all cancer deaths and 87% of lung cancer deaths. (Source: Cancer Facts and Figures 2007)
- Each year, about 3,000 nonsmoking adults die of lung cancer as a result of breathing secondhand smoke and causes an estimated 35,000 deaths from heart disease in people who are not current smokers. (Source: Cancer Facts and Figures 2007)
- Cigars contain many of the same carcinogens that are found in cigarettes. Cigar smoking increased 146% from 1993 to 2004. Cigar smoking causes cancer of the lung, oral cavity, larynx, esophagus, and possibly the pancreas. (Source: Cancer Facts and Figures 2006 and Cancer Facts and Figures 2007)
- Among adults age 18 and older, national data showed 6% of men and 1% of women were current users of chewing tobacco or snuff. Nationwide, 14% of US male high school students and 2% of female high school students were currently using chewing tobacco, snuff or dip in 2005.(Source: Cancer Facts and Figures 2007)
- Smokeless tobacco contains 28 cancer-causing agents (carcinogens). It is a known cause of human cancer, as it increases the risk of developing cancer of the oral cavity. (Source: CDC Website, Smokeless Tobacco Fact Sheet, 2005)
- Smokeless tobacco use can lead to nicotine addiction and dependence.
The Risky Business of
Lighting Up by Mike Mills
IF you smoke, you are taking a deadly risk. According to the American Heart Association ( AHA), smoking is the "single most preventable risk factor" contributing to early death in the United State. This means quitting is the best thing you can do to avoid an early death. And early, preventable deaths from smoking related illnesses-about 442,000 a year- make up nearly one-fifth of all deaths.
Because smoking damages the cardiovascular system, it can quadruple the risk of getting coronary heart disease (CHD), the No.1 single caue of death in the United States. Smoking is a major cause of stroke, the No. 3 killer.
Cardiovascular Damage
The nicotine and carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke do most of the damage to the cardiovascular system. Nicotine, and addictive drug, acutely increases blood pressure and heart rate. It also narrows arteries and damages their lining.
Carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin, which carries oxygen in the bloodstream. The binding effect reduces the amount of oxygen transported to your body's tissues.
Over time this combination of assaults on the cardiovascular system from nicotine, carbon monoxide, and other substances can speed up the process of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, resulting in chronic high blood pressure, narrowing of the arteries, restricting the flow of blood, and increasing its tendency to clot. All these factors lead to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
Artery damage that restricts blood flow to other parts of the body-kidneys, stomach, arms, legs, and feet-is called peripheral artery disease (PAD). PAD is 10 times more likely to develop in a smoker that in a nonsmoker.
Smoking can also promote heart disease by reducing HDL (good) cholesterol, which can lead to atherosclerosis. As soon as you quit smoking, your HDL cholestrol levels improve.
Secondhand Smoke
Breathing someone else's smoke can also cause disease, according to the American Heart Association. Secondhand smoke, a mixture of smoke given off by the cigarette and exhaled smoke, is a factor in about 35,000 deaths a year from cardiovascular disease. In fact, studies show that the risk of dying from heart disease brought on by secondhand smoke is about 10 times greather than the risk of dying from lung cancer.
Secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, of which at least 69 can cause cancer. Other chemicals found in cigarette smoke can do additional damage:
- Ammonia- Irritates and damages eyes, nose and airways. Unlikely to cause cancer.
- Benzene- Causes drowsiness, dizziness or headache. Causes leukemia and other cancers of the blood.
- Cadmium- Damages lungs. Causes shortness of breath, chest pain or cough. Causes cancer.
- Formaldehyde- Produces watery eyes; burning eyes, nose and throat; and skin rashes. Causes cancer.
- Lead- Causes learning disabilities, memory loss and decreased IQ. Likely to cause cancer.
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons- A group of 100 chemicals that can cause skin rashes, sensitivity to sunlight, eye irritation, and cataracts. Likely to cause cancer.
When Smokers Quit
After a person stops smoking, the body starts to recover almost immediately:
20 minutes: Blood pressure drops to a level clost to that before the last cigarette.
24 hours: The chance of a heart attack decreases.
2 weeks to 3 months: Circulation improves, and lung function increases up to 30 precent.
1 to 9 months: Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease.
1 year: The excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker.
5 to 15 years: Stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker.
15 years: Risk of coronary heart disease is that of a nonsmoker.
November/December 2005 StrokeCONNECTION pages 28-29
Natrona County Has Access to Recovery program
Access to Recovery (ATR) is an initiative to expand treatment
opportunities for people in need of substance abuse treatment and recovery services. ATR recognizes that people need to be able to choose their path, and effective treatment addresses many aspects of life; physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. ATR’s aim is to utilize a broad range of community services by inviting traditional substance abuse services and non-traditional providers to create a range of treatment service options that give people a range of choices and service options.
ATR targets 12 to 25 year old persons. ATR can be reached
at 307-265-3482.
Smoke Free Home Kits Still Available
Smoke Free Home Kits are available free of charge to anyone
who desires them. Kits are designed to help families establish
and maintain a smoke free home. Each kit contains smoke free
home signs, bottle openers, pot holders, pot scrapers, quitting
literature, and second hand smoke information. Kits can be
picked up at:
Well-Being of Wyoming (307-472-5991)
Wyoming Quit Tobacco Program (307-577-2974)
Child Care Finder Network (307-235-7921)
Casper-Natrona County Health Department (307-235-9340).
DID YOU KNOW:
For every day that you are quit, your immune system improves.
Quitting smoking could help to slow facial aging and the
appearance of wrinkles.
Using nicotine replacemant products could reduce withdrawal
symptoms and double your odds of quitting smoking.
Division of the Wyoming Department of Health.
