The Male Health Center - Oral Health in Men

Let's Stop Smoking's Successor

Chew on a few facts before you put tobacco in your mouth.
You'd have to be an out-of-touch hermit who grows his own not to know that smoking tobacco can be deadly. Unfortunately, all too many nonsmokers--many of them young--assume that somehow the risks posed by the noxious weed go away if you just chew it instead.

Led on by the examples set by baseball heroes and country music stars, chewing may be on the verge of replacing smoking as the sad symbol of youthful masculinity. Statistics show that in some regions as much as a third of male high school students use snuff or chewing tobacco, yet only 40 percent of them are aware of the risks. Here in Texas, the figure is estimated at 9 percent and rising. More alarming, better than half took up the habit before age 13.

These young men need to know that a "chaw" can kill. In 1990, more than 30,000 people developed oral cancer and 8,300 died. Such tumors are virtually unknown among people who avoid two bad habits: chewing tobacco and drinking hard liquor. Independently, each increases risk of oral cancer by six times. Take up both, and the risk doesn't add; it jumps to 15 times! A study of 945 patients with a particular form of oral cancer revealed that only 3.4 percent of them never used tobacco.

Young men also need to know that oral cancer is a miserable way to go. Some of the most fundamental human activities require a healthy mouth. Eating can become difficult, and loss of speech is a frequent result.

Whether you use oral tobacco or not, you should examine your own mouth regularly. As is the case with nearly any cancer, oral cancers caught early are much more likely to be curable, and the treatment will be much easier. Persistent sores anywhere in your mouth--run your tongue around your gums to check in the recesses--should not be ignored. Report them to your doctor promptly. And while you're at it, be sure your doctor and dentist include oral examinations with each checkup.

It's high time we put chewing tobacco in perspective--before it's too late for more young men. The baseball minor leagues have banned it, and the majors should follow. Let me put it this way: Troy Aikman may be the golden boy now. But if he keeps up his habit, it may not be long before he's got nothing to say.

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