What are the Hazards of Smokeless Tobacco?
Sometimes smokers will turn to chewing tobacco to help their efforts at quitting smoking. Unfortunately, chewing tobacco and dip pose just as great of a risk to your health as cigarettes do…just in a slightly different format. The tobacco leaves used to make dip and chew still contain nicotine as well as additional additives injected into the material by the tobacco companies. Dip and chew are as addicting as cigarettes and can quickly lead an ex-smoker back to their old bad habits if used as a means to stop smoking.
Side Effects of Smokeless Tobacco
Dip and Chew have a number of side effects that can impact your internal organs as well as your physical appearance. These include:
Tooth Decay and Erosion
Smokeless tobacco products have a number of other ingredients combined with the tobacco to include: gravel, sand, grit, and chemical injections which all help break down the structure of your teeth. They also leave behind small particles which help form plaque and damage the enamel and gums of the user. Left untreated or cleaned at regular intervals and you can experience significantly faster tooth decay and erosion.
Gum Infection
Chewing and dipping will inflame your gums and cause them to loosen their grip on your teeth. This then exposes the sensitive areas of your teeth which in turn allows bacteria and infection to spread to your gums. Dentists can sometimes tell if you have dipped or chewed after only a few uses with some people because of the speed of impact on your gums by the smokeless tobacco.
Bad Smelling Breath
One of smokeless tobacco’s biggest turn offs is making your breath smell bad. The longer that you dip or chew, the worse your breath will smell and be a turn off of for the people around you.
Impact on Your Eating Habits
Smokeless tobacco makes food lose its taste when you dip or chew. As a result, you’ll start using more salt and spice on your food that will have a potential to have a negative impact on your blood pressure.
Impact on Your Facial Features
Besides causing your teeth and gums to be severely decayed and giving you bad breath, smokeless tobacco will also:
- Change the color of your lips and make you more likely to contract lip cancer
- Irritates your tongue and gives you a sore throat
- Makes it more difficult to move your jaw and tongue
Oral and Lung Cancer
Dip and Chew can sometimes result in earlier developments of cancer in users than smoking! When you chew or dip, it leaves tobacco juice on your teeth and lips that has cancer causing chemicals in it that can trigger oral cancer. Typically oral cancer will develop in the area of your tongue and the back of your throat. It will then spread to your cheeks, upper and lower mouth, and your stomach. The carcinogens in smokeless tobacco can also spread to your lungs and cause lung cancer.
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