'Through with Chew Week' offers help to quit spit for good

Press release

“Through with Chew Week” is observed in Montana Feb. 20-26 this year. Bullhook Dental Clinic is partnering with North Montana Tobacco-Free Coalition to provide free oral cancer screenings to spit tobacco users during this week.

For appointments or more information, people can call 395-4305. Health professionals also may recommend people use the Montana Quit Line to help them stop their tobacco habit. The Quit Line can help people pick a quit date that is best for them and will provide them with clinical counseling.

In many cases, Quit Line can provide free nicotine replacement aids — patches, gun, lozenges — or prescription medications such as Chantix at a reduced price. Taking part in the screening at Bullhook Dental or calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW are two immediate steps people can take to start quitting.

The service is free, and so is the call.

The Mayo Clinic website lists the following information about chewing tobacco:

People can call chewing tobacco by whatever name they want — smokeless tobacco, spit tobacco, chew, snuff, pinch or dip — but they shouldn’t call it harmless. Whether they use chewing tobacco or other types of smokeless tobacco because they like it or because they think smokeless is safer than cigarettes, they sould be forewarned — chewing tobacco can cause serious health problems.

Health risks of chewing tobacco and other forms of smokeless tobacco

While the available evidence shows that smokeless tobacco may be less dangerous than cigarettes are, long-term use of chewing tobacco and other smokeless tobacco products can cause serious health problems. That is because they can contain about 30 cancer-causing substances. Like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco also contains nicotine, which can cause you to become addicted. The following is a look at some of the health problems related to smokeless tobacco:

• Addiction: Because smokeless tobacco contains nicotine, users can get addicted, just as they can with cigarettes and other tobacco products. The user’s body may actually absorb more nicotine from chewing tobacco or snuff than it does from a cigarette. Just as with smoking, withdrawal from smokeless tobacco causes signs and symptoms, such as intense cravings, increased appetite, irritability and depressed mood. Also, over time, users develop a tolerance for the nicotine in chewing tobacco and other smokeless tobacco products, and they need more to feel the desired effects. This may lead them to even more dangerous habits — such as using brands with more nicotine, using them more often.

• Cancer: The risk of certain types of cancer increases if using chewing tobacco or other types of smokeless tobacco. This includes esophageal cancer and various types of oral cancer, including cancers of the mouth, throat, cheek, gums, lips and tongue. Surgery to remove cancer from any of these areas can leave the jaw, chin, neck or face disfigured, and the cancer may be life–threatening. Users also face increased risks related to pancreatic cancer and kidney cancer.

• 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 the gums and scratch away at the enamel on teeth, making teeth more vulnerable to cavities.

• Gum disease: The sugar and irritants in chewing tobacco and other forms of smokeless tobacco can cause gums to pull away from the teeth in the area of the mouth where chew is placed. Over time users can develop gum disease, called gingivitis, which can lead to periodontitis and tooth loss. And like cigarettes, chewing tobacco and other smokeless products can stain your teeth and cause bad breath.

• Heart Disease: Smokeless tobacco increases the heart rate and blood pressure. Some evidence suggests that long–term use of smokeless tobacco increases risk of dying of certain types of heart disease and stroke.

• Precancerous mouth lesions: Smokeless tobacco increases the risk of developing small white patches called leukoplakia inside the user’s mouth where the chew is most often placed. These mouth lesions are precancerous — meaning that the lesions could one day become cancer. Stopping use of smokeless tobacco products, allows the lesions, usually, to go away within a few months.