Tobacco and alcohol are the significant oral cavity and mouth cancer risk factors. Mouth cancer from chewing tobacco has become a common problem these days. Today, a lot of cases are reported almost on the daily basis wherein these cases are related to chewing tobacco and alcohol use. Stats show that 90% of people suffering from mouth cancer are addicted to tobacco. Individuals, who stop chewing tobacco and alcohol, even after many years of quitting it, can actually fall prey to smoking and chewing tobacco-related illnesses, as well as mouth cancer. The finest way to keep away from these cancers and other grave diseases is to never start smoking or chewing tobacco in any outline.
Mouth Cancer From Chewing Tobacco – How Does it Occur?
Though the accurate cause of mouth cancer is unclear, there are assured lifestyle factors that can put someone at hazard for this grave disease. Tobacco of any kind – cigarettes, pipes, cigars, as well as smokeless tobacco, can increase your risk for oral cancer. Heavy use of alcohol and chewing tobacco increases the risk of developing oral cancer. Moreover, when a person uses both tobacco and alcohol, the situation gets worse!
Tobacco smoke has a bunch of chemicals that cause cancer. Each time you inhale that smoke, its poisonous chemicals get into your body, which gets carried to all parts of your body. Many of these chemicals can damage your DNA, which controls and directs each kind of cell to do what it is made for. Damaged DNA can make cells which are unusual and these unusual cells can turn into cancer cells.
To know more about how Smoking is injurious to health follow the link.
Be it chewing tobacco or the smoke of tobacco, the fact is that there is a lot of tar and harmful poisonous gases contained in them respectively. The element that causes mouth cancer by Tobacco chewing and the one which makes people addict is nicotine. Nicotine, the addictive drug, is considered one of the most abrasive chemicals present in tobacco. The leaves of tobacco are used for making cigars or cigarettes. These leaves have radioactive substances in them. Mostly the chances of oral cancer due to chewing tobacco happen in people over the age of 40, and a diet that is lacking fruits and green vegetables can make it easier to deal.
Chemicals Which Causes Oral Cancer from Tobacco
The fully dried tobacco leaves are used to make cigars, cigarettes, and of course, the chewable tobacco also. The tobacco actually comes from the tobacco plant from genus Nicotiana. More than seventy different types of tobacco are found wherein the N.tabacum variety is the most coveted one in the commercial world of tobacco. Some other ingredients are also included to enhance the flavor of tobacco and to make it more enjoyable. The smoke produced from these kinds of stuff is a multifaceted combination of many chemicals twisted by burning tobacco. Tobacco smoke is made up of burning thousands of chemicals, and many of them are the main cause of increases the chances of oral cancer from chewing tobacco. Cancer-causing chemicals found in Tobacco smoke include:
- Hydrogen cyanide
- Lead
- Nicotine (one of the most poisonous chemical in tobacco)
- Formaldehyde
- Arsenic
- Benzene
- Ammonia
- Nitrosamines
- Carbon monoxide
- Some radioactive elements like uranium
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Many of these chemicals cause mouth or oral cancer. Some can cause lung diseases, heart diseases, or other grave health issues, too.
Mouth Cancer From Tobacco – The Statistics
Chewing tobacco is the chief preventable cause of death from cancer and other diseases, yet there are 40 million smokers and tobacco addicted in the world. Researchers calculated the percentage of cancer deaths among people 35 years and older due to the cigarette, chewing tobacco, smoking in 2014. They found that nearly 29 percent of deaths were because of chewing tobacco.
Types of Cancer Caused By Tobacco
Mainly people relate mouth cancer from chewing tobacco but do you know there are so many types’ of cancers that can be caused by smoking and chewing tobacco. Every time a person chew tobacco, 7000 chemicals enter his lungs and extend to other parts of the body. Here are some of the cancers caused by chewing tobacco.
- Esophagus cancer
- Mouth and throat cancer
- Pancreas cancer
A large segment of cancers of the mouth can be endorsed to smoking, 60% of which are oral cavity and pharynx cancers, 77% of larynx cancers and 60% oesophageal cancer cases. Recognizing mouth cancer chewing tobacco early signs helps in the timely treatment.
Benefits of Quitting Tobacco
If you are addicted to chewing tobacco, you should quit it right now. But quitting can be tough. Though it is not easy to quit tobacco regular efforts surely result in successful quitting of tobacco. If you are not able to quit it all of a sudden, do not get disappointed with your failures and try again until you succeed! View any past attempts to quit smoking as a learning practice but not a failure. There are many reasons to quit tobacco. Long-term use of tobacco can increase the risk of many serious health problems. Though there are several ways to quit tobacco but the most important is your firm determination that plays a significant role in quitting tobacco forever! There are some health benefits that began almost immediately when you quit chewing tobacco. Every week, month, and year without tobacco improves your health and reduce the symptoms of oral cancer from chewing tobacco.
- Blood pressure and pulse rate of the body fall to regular. Also, the temperature of hands and feet increases to usual.
- Your blood circulation improves.
- Walking becomes easier.
- Your lungs work better and wounds heal more quickly.
- Lower risk of erectile dysfunction.
- Healthier teeth, gums, and skin.
- Lower risk of infertility due to damaged sperm
- Lower chance of blood clots in the legs.
- The risk of mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder cancers are decreased by half.
- The risk of a sudden heart attack goes down.
- The risk of coronary heart disease is half that of someone still using tobacco.
Similar to any addiction, quitting tobacco is tricky, particularly if you do it alone. There are a lot of ways to quit chewing tobacco and many resources are available in the market which helps you. In the end, there are some practical tips for you:
- Read about the health benefits of quitting tobacco as that will inspire you for quitting this bad habit.
- Also, know and understand the health risks caused by chewing tobacco including Cancer.
- Stick to short-term goals while planning to quit tobacco. For example, instead of thinking ‘I will not chew tobacco for one week, say that ‘I will not chew tobacco today’. This makes your mind think that you have a task only for a day and slowly you can increase it to two, three days and so on!
- Get involved in your hobbies and whenever you feeling like having tobacco, do a task that interests you and diverts your mind from the thought of chewing tobacco.
Leave a replyLast but not the least, if you don’t use tobacco or smoking -don’t start! If you do use tobacco or smoking -quit!
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