Once upon a time during a de-addiction programme, a gentleman sitting in the audience cracked a joke, hearing which everyone laughed heartily. After some time, he repeated the joke; now a less number of people laughed. Later, he kept telling the same joke again and again, until no one could laugh any longer. Then he smiled and said, “You can't enjoy the same joke again and again, then why do you keep craving for the same tobacco again and again?”
It is surprising that in spite of the constant alarm sounded by governments, health organisations, educational and awareness programmes and warning signs on the packs of tobacco products, people still chew tobacco!
Every year, a huge number of people die from oral cancer (6.4 lakh new cases a year, according to the recent world statistical data). India ranks first in oral cancer. It is often seen that those who smoke cigarettes turn to smokeless tobacco in places where smoking is not allowed. Of all cancers, 75% are caused only by tobacco. There is no safe level for tobacco as any tobacco product, in any form, can cause cancer, and several non-cancerous oral conditions and can lead to nicotine dependence and addiction.
In tobacco chewers, nicotine is absorbed through the oral tissues and it gets into the blood reaching the brain. Even after spitting, nicotine still remains in the blood stream (for a longer duration in chewers than in smokers) making it difficult to quit chewing compared to smoking.
Tobacco contains 28 cancer causing agents, Nitrosamines, polonium- 210 and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons being few of them. Smokeless tobacco causes oral cancer, esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, also cancer of the lips, tongue, cheek, gums, throat, floor of the mouth, oral precancerous lesions and conditions like leukoplakia, erythroplakia and oral submucous fibrosis ( OSF- which causes a burning sensation in the mouth, a wet leathery feeling, reduced mouth opening, trismus, referred pain in the ear/deafness, difficulty in deglutition, depapillation of the tongue and its restrictive movements and nasal intonation of voice). Also, it can lead to bleeding gums, periodontal problems and mobility of teeth.
Nicotine produces physical and mood altering effects in the brain that are temporarily pleasing; also it may increase temptation to try other substances like marijuana and narcotics, while withdrawal symptoms include irritability and anxiety.
The best way is to encourage the person to quit tobacco by adapting a healthy lifestyle, eating plenty of fruits and raw vegetables, exercising, breathing techniques, yoga and meditation, increasing will-power and controlling the cravings, a positive attitude towards life, happy environment and family life (cracking jokes and laughing, possibly at the same joke again and again)
(The writer is a dental surgeon. Email: littlesmiles@ovi.com)
Keywords: tobacco use, smoking, cigarettes
Man has the intelligence to decide what he shall drink and what he shall smoke. Don’t interfere. Leave alone the ancient social practice of tobacco smoking. Go after consumption, if one does not fear the retaliation of liquor magnates. When one breathes, oxygen goes into the lungs where hemoglobin in the blood capillaries in the lung walls is sitting ready to receive it. Oxygen combines with hemoglobin to form oxy-globin which reaches every cell in human body when blood circulates from the heart. These cells receive oxygen and release carbon dioxide. Hemoglobin has equal affinity to nicotine as it has to oxygen. When we smoke, nicotine vapour replaces oxygen considerably and combines with hemoglobin to form nico-globin and reaches everywhere. Due to the volume of oxygen been replaced by nicotine, there will be a resultant downfall in the energy level of the body, which, drinking great quantities of water will supplement.
You have written, "...[tobacco] can lead to nicotine dependence and addiction." I think you are right, but in an accompanying article ("False beliefs about smoking"), Dr. Suresh Shottam asserts nicotine is not addictive.
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