Navy Exposes Chewing Tobacco Dangers

By Douglas H. Stutz, Naval Hospital Bremerton Public Affairs

BREMERTON, Wash. (NNS) -- The tobacco cessation facilitator, dental services and health promotion personnel from Naval Hospital Bremerton (NHB), Wash., teamed up to actively promote the Great American Spit Out (GASPO) Feb. 24.

The event was part of "Quit Tobacco — Make Everyone Proud," an ongoing DoD educational campaign tailored specifically for U.S. military members to give up tobacco products.

"Chewing tobacco is a dangerous concept with definite health risks," said Patrick W. Graves, NHB's tobacco cessation facilitator. "When a person puts chewing tobacco into their mouth, they are instantly exposed to significant dangers such as oral cancer, pancreatic cancer, esophagus cancer, stomach cancer and colon cancer. A dip of chew has 28 cancer-causing carcinogens."

According to Graves, chewing tobacco is a super concentrated form of nicotine, equal to three and a half packs of cigarettes.

"That makes it all the more addictive," said Graves.

Data compiled by the DoD states that chewing tobacco is used by 19 percent of 18 to 24-year-old military males, approximately twice the national average. Chewing tobacco is not a safe alternative to smoking because the body absorbs three to four times more nicotine, making it potentially more addictive than cigarettes.

"We have half a dozen staff members here at NHB who are in the process of quitting, and we're doing all we can to help them out," said Graves. "If you are a person with cardiac risk factors and have symptoms like recurrent chest pains, high blood pressure, recurring cough or shortness of breath, you might want to ask yourself that if you're holding out for the worst-case scenario, it's already happened. Chewing tobacco is subtle and slow."

Graves attests that getting the information out is only half the struggle because it's really up to each individual to control their actions.

"We might know more but due to our demographics, but we also tend to smoke and dip 35 to 50 percent more than our civilian counterparts," said Graves. "It's always been a cultural thing in the service, but that notion is gradually changing. The ironic thing about using chewing tobacco is that it's such a contradictory habit to a person putting in the effort to maintain their readiness, training, physical fitness and be on the top of their game. Dipping and chewing negates that and takes away from all the gains."

"Our partners in the dental community tend to see the impact of what chewing tobacco can do a lot earlier that I do," said Graves. "The hallmark is a pre-cancerous lesion, and our dentists and dental technicians are really good at recognizing any early warning signs."

"The big thing we stress is the bone loss that occurs by the front teeth and the gum disease and the cancers that chewing causes. The gums can't handle the irritation from the tobacco. Another thing we look for is cancer of the tongue caused from the carcinogen juices of the chewing tobacco," said Lt. Melanie Perry, a dentist assigned to Dental Health Clinic Bangor, Wash.

Using smokeless tobacco breaks down gum lines, stains teeth and is a prime source of halitosis, or bad breath, said Perry.

Active duty personnel get a dental exam at least once a year, which gives dentists the opportunity to track any potential wear and tear with a patient.

"A lot of times if we can show a patient the changes that chewing tobacco has caused it will help them quit. We can show a person if they might have cancer of the mouth or get a pre-cancerous lesion, such as leukoplakia, which is white patches that can turn into cancer. There's also gum disease that is caused when the gum is pulled away from the teeth where the tobacco has been held and won't grow back," said Perry.

"If the measuring stick for a person is that they will quit is if they get a pre-cancerous lesion, they might have already lost the battle," added Graves. "If anyone who chews begins to notice that they have a white patch in their mouth or receding gum lines, they need to contact their dentist immediately."

Health promotion staff also provided herbal-based and non-nicotine based chew as an alternative to chewing tobacco.

"We're actually going to order a supply of the herbal-based chew to have on hand at all times at our Bangor Dental Clinic," said Perry.

"We've also been hanging up posters and putting up flyers on why to quit to hopefully get those who use to at least think about not chewing," said Perry. "Everyone knows it's not good. Some people tend to think that if anything bad happens it will always happen to the other guy and not them and when dealing with a product that causes serious dental disease and cancer, that's really not the case."

Graves encourages anyone who is thinking of quitting cigarettes or chewing/smokeless tobacco to contact their primary care doctor or independent duty corpsman.