CADCA Supports ‘Through With Chew Week’ and ‘Great American Spit Out’

Communities all over the United States are gearing up for the 2012 Through With Chew Week (TWCW), held the third full week of February each year. The Great American Spit Out day is held on the Thursday of TWCW each year – this year on Feb. 23. TWCW is an educational campaign to decrease smokeless tobacco use, also known as dip, chew, snuff, spit or chewing tobacco, and increase awareness of the negative health effects of using these products specifically among young people.

According to a survey released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tobacco use has been associated with oral cancers and poorer dental health.

Research finds that smokeless tobacco is also strongly associated with leukoplakia—a precancerous lesion of the soft tissue in the mouth that consists of a white patch or plaque that cannot be scraped off. The sugar in the smokeless tobacco that helps keep users addicted may cause decay in exposed tooth roots. Smokeless tobacco is also associated with recession of the gums and gum disease. The smokeless tobacco acts as sandpaper and causes your gums to pull away from the teeth in the place where the tobacco is held; the gums do not grow back. In 2009, 3.5 percent of all adults aged 18 years or older living in the United States were currently using smokeless tobacco, with the highest percentage among American Indian/Alaska Native and white males. Smokeless tobacco contains 28 carcinogens and known to increase the risk of developing cancer of the oral cavity.

Rick Bender of Kentucky, known to some as the man without a face, began using spit tobacco at the age of 12. Bender was later diagnosed with cancer at the age of 26 because of this spit tobacco use and underwent four major surgeries to remove the cancer. Bender lost one third of his tongue, half of his jaw and 25 percent use of his right arm.

“I have devoted my life to educating others about this tobacco product that is widely thought of as a safe alternative to smoking,” Bender said. For stories like Bender’s, it is important to draw awareness to the negative effects of smokeless tobacco use and support the efforts that champion TWCW all across the country.

According to the CDC, oral cancer is the sixth-leading cancer in men, with 30,000 cases per year. Almost 75 percent of people diagnosed with oral and pharyngeal cancer use tobacco. About one person dies every hour from the disease. Oral cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to diagnose, treat and cure. Only half of those diagnosed survive longer than five years. Users of smokeless tobacco are exposed to higher amounts of tobacco-specific nitrosamines—molecules that are known to be carcinogenic—than smokers.