It’s no secret that tobacco use isn’t healthy. It says so right on the package. On cigarettes and other smoked tobacco warnings from the Surgeon General proclaim, “smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy.” On smokeless tobacco packages, such warnings as this product can cause mouth cancer, gum disease, and tooth loss, are found. The truth is that all of these warning should be attached to every package of tobacco whether it is smoked or smokeless. The oral health effects of tobacco range from the most mild bad breath and dental stains, to oral cancer which accounts for one death every hour in the US. Regular preventive dentistry checkups can help diagnose and treat these oral health concerns at the earliest stages, but the only way to truly prevent these effects of tobacco usage is to kick the habit.
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