Smoking and dental health are more intimately connected than you

By: Trust Source

Article:
Smoking and dental health are more intimately connected than
you would imagine

Imagine losing a portion of your cheek at the age of 18? Medical
research indicates that smokers are six times more likely than
nonsmokers to develop oral cancers. Even those addicted to
smokeless tobacco (snuff or chewing tobacco) can develop cancers
of the cheek, gums and lining of the lips, increasing the risk
by about 50 times. Oral cancer is in fact one of the most
devastating effects of smoking. In fact, the death rate from
oral cancers (which includes cancers of the tongue, mouth, gums,
tonsils and pharynx) exceeds the death rate from cervical
cancer, according to experts.

Who is at risk?

It's believed that the adolescents are at the maximum risk. Over
the last 10 years the number of kids under 18 who become daily
smokers increased by 70 per cent. Roughly 3,000 kids become
regular smokers every day. Worse, almost 1/3 of them will die
from a tobacco-related illness (Dental Health Foundation,
http://www.dentalhealth.ie/whatsnew/index.tmpl?_eqRIDdatarq=20040
224175004) The susceptibility to smoking starts around age 10
years and peaks by age 14 years in close to 60 per cent of the
population. And once thy have experimented, approximately half
continue to smoke and become addicted to the nicotine content in
cigarettes. An adolescent, who thinks that the health problems
of smoking can be alleviated, provided he or she can stop
smoking before the age of 35, appears to be at much greater risk
of experimentation. Furthermore, older the habit and more the
number of cigarettes smoked in a day, harder is it to quit.

The risk of oral cancer in adolescents?

Approximately 75% of all oral cancers are associated with
tobacco use or alcohol consumption. In fact, about 3 per cent of
male and 2 per cent of female cancer sufferers have oral cancer.
The death rate from oral cancer is also high. Only about 50
percent of people who get oral cancer survive for five years or
more, in part because the disease often is not discovered until
it is more advanced, according to a study carried in Community
Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology.

Early warning signs:

o Sticky tar deposits or brown staining on the teeth. Heavy
smokers will have almost brown teeth. o 'Smoker's palate' - red
inflammation on the roof of the mouth o Delayed healing of the
gums o Increased severity of gum disease o Bad breath or
halitosis o Black hairy tongue o Oral lesions o Gum recession -
with chewing tobacco at the site of the tobacco "wad", the gums
react by receding along the tooth root, exposing the root o Oral
cancer

do young people smoke?

There are a number of complex and inter-relating factors that
predispose young people to smoke, and these vary among
individuals and among populations. However, years of research
have identified certain factors that commonly play a role in
smoking initiation. These include high levels of social
acceptability for tobacco products, exposure and vulnerability
to tobacco marketing efforts, availability and ease of access,
role modeling by parents and other adults, and peer group use. A
study in the United States found that among teens who smoke, 85
per cent chose the three most heavily advertised brands of
cigarettes, compared to only 35 per cent of adults. Data suggest
that children are more responsive than adults to the messages
and images contained in tobacco advertisements. Past studies
have also shown that influence by their peers is likely the
biggest motivator leading to adolescent's experimentation with
smoking. Girls in fact are more susceptible to such influences,
a trend that carries over to high school according to past
findings.

What dentists and dental associations can do?

Small wonder that the American Dental Hygienists' Association
(ADHA) has now constituted a task force to push its three-step
approach to smoking cessation intervention: "Ask. Advise.
Refer." Efforts are meanwhile afoot to develop protocols,
scripts, and a toolkit to facilitate smoking cessation
intervention by dental hygienists. In November 2003, ADHA also
received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's
Smoking Cessation Leadership Center at the University of
California, San Francisco to launch a nationwide effort by
dental hygienists to promote smoking cessation.

Smoking is no doubt a serious health problem for our
adolescents. However, since abstinence is a long-drawn process,
our cessation services need to be made more attractive to teens.
So far, interventions with the youth have been relatively brief,
without focus and without any longer term support systems. It
would also be helpful to know what motivates adolescents to want
to quit smoking. Ready to quit smoking?

If you smoke and you're ready to quit, come find out what the
top stop-smoking products are at
http://stopsmoking.trustsource.org/ac1. These products are
ranked and reviewed by the ex-smokers who had success with these
products.

About the author:
TrustSource.org helps people find products that "really work" by
operating a network of internet sites designed to faciliate
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products at http://stopsmoking.trustsource.org/ac1