I have been a dental hygienist for 8 years. I seldom see patients that chew tobacco, but I had one yesterday. Since it's my duty as a health care provider to inform the patient of the ill effects of this nasty stuff, I did just that. And he told me, "I LOVE to chew. I've only been chewing about 2 1/2 years, and I have no intentions of quitting" He was serious! Another discussion we had was about fluoride. He has read lots of literature on how dangerous it is. Is he SERIOUS?!?!?! He chews tobacco and smokes!! And he's worried about fluoride in his toothpaste! Wonders never cease. So that's my tirade for today. Here is some more info that I'm sure all of you are familiar with, but it's interesting to me nonetheless.
What's in Smokeless Tobacco?
Processed tobacco contains at least 3,000 chemical compounds including a lot of stuff you don't want in your body. Nicotine, an addictive drug, is what gets you hooked on any form of tobacco. Holding one pinch of spit tobacco in your mouth for 30 minutes delivers as much nicotine as 3-4 cigarettes.
There have been at least 28 cancer-causing chemicals identified in spit tobacco including:
Nitrosamines -- These are the most powerful cancer-causing agents in spit tobacco. While only 5 ppb (parts per billion) of nitrosamines are allowed in consumer products such as beer or bacon, spit tobacco contains from 20 to 43,000 times more nitrosamines!
Polonium 210 -- radioactive particles that turn into radon
Formaldehyde -- embalming fluid
Cadmium -- a metallic element; its salts are poisonous
Arsenic -- a metallic element which forms poisonous compounds
From the National Cancer Institute.
11 comments:
What? Fluoride? No thanks, Dr. Kevorkian!
Are you being sarcastic? Or I'm just not getting it. I hate when that happens
Did you show him the picutres? Did his teeth look like this?
You grossed me out. I have to go floss.
I too feel the urge to brush or floss and I just did it not that long ago! YUCK! Why anyone would choose to keep on doing something that is so harmful ( and really gross) is always beyond me.
That's pretty nasy Kara. I'm sorry you had to experience that. I don't really like pictures of teeth anyway but those ones gave me the willies.
too bad he doesn't understand the fire that he's playing with. if you ever run across him (or another dipper) again, please pass along KillTheCan.org to them. the site - located at http://www.killthecan.org/ - is full of great information about quitting dip, chew & other forms of smokeless tobacco. it's got pictures, facts & figures, etc.
also, there is a free, anonymous quitter's community with over 1,000 members located at http://forum.killthecan.org/ where quitters can get their questions answered.
thanks!
Well thanks for stopping by, iuchewie! I will definitely jot that website down for future reference.
To answer Amanda's question, his teeth were not as black as the top picture, but had the same amount of recession as the bottom picture. After only 2.5 years of chewing it has destroyed his gums THAT MUCH!
Wow! Just when I was thinking of taking up the habit. Or was that beating myself in the head with a hammer. I don't know how you put up with that sort of thing on your job. Your stomach must be stronger than mine. I thought at first this was some kind of Holloween trick.
Yes, I was being sarcastic. I was essentially agreeing with you that the guy was being ridiculous about thinking fluoride is dangerous, when he's working on putting a cancerous hole in his lower lip. That said, I have to disagree with iuchewie. If someone is that committed to an addiction, giving them information that will "help" them is just going to annoy them. I lived with a hardcore addict (my sister) for several years, so I'm speaking from experience here.
Hard core = Chewing?
Josh you don't seems like the kind of guy to disagree.
yes I am kidding.
Wow I can't believe he had that much recession. I chewed for years! HAhah well my boy friend did sometimes I did but mostly from kissing him. OHHH the smell of that stuff is sick!! I would smoke first!! ICKKK gag gag gag shivers just thinking about it.
Post a Comment