Some people think that it is a cure for smoking. Women are using it for weight loss, and men think it makes them look macho. These beliefs are very common, especially amongst teens but none of them are true. It is not helpful with weight loss and it cannot make one stronger. You can call chewing tobacco by whatever you want, spit, tobacco, chew, snuff, pinch or dip, but do not call it harmless. Chewing tobacco can lead a person down a negative path of addiction. It is extremely important for everyone especially teenagers, to learn and understand the health hazards of chewing tobacco, and to find out about the products that can help with quitting. .
Chewing tobacco is loose tobacco leaves that are sweetened and packed in pouches or tins. It is consumed by placing some of the tobacco between the cheek and gum or upper lip teeth and chewing. Quitting is more difficult than staring the habit of chewing tobacco. There are numerous reasons why today's teens decided to chew tobacco. One is the influence of professional athletes that a teen might look up to, a movie star, or even a friend. As a teenager that has a role model, he/she will do anything their role models do to be just like them. In this case, if their role model chewed tobacco the teen will be more likely to use chew. Other teens are just uneducated and do not know the consequences of chewing tobacco. Chewing tobacco is and continues to be popular among teenagers. Once one chews tobacco they are exposed to the many dangers of chewing tobacco. .
A risk factor for using chew is oral cancer, a pre-cancers, and cardiovascular disease. Health risk includes gum disease, tooth decay, tooth loss, and bad breath. A turn off for some is that when one chews tobacco one can get stained yellow teeth and they tend to spit a lot. The most common health risk for chewing tobacco is leukoplakia. Leukoplakia is pre-cancerous conditions that consist of small white lesions that are typically located on the gums or inside the bottom lip where the chewer puts the tobacco.
