Cigars and Oral Health:

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Cigars and Oral Health

With the increased popularity of cigar smoking as an alternative to cigarette smoking, due to the publicity campaigns, media exposure, movie- star attraction, and star athletes who smoke cigars, there has been an increase in teens and young adults who smoke cigars. Cigar smoking is not a safe alternative to cigarettes as many believe. The ADA even warns that even occasional cigar smoking may pose serious health risks. The increased risk includes tooth and jawbone loss. There is also an increased risk for cancer in the throat and mouth. Risk of lung cancer and heart attack may be the same as that of cigarette smokers. Cigar smokers also suffer from excessive tooth stain and chronic halitosis (bad breath). With the increased media hype, it is important to warn cigar smokers of the possible end results.

Cigar smokers face about twice the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, or lung as nonsmokers, and about one and a half times the risk of developing any smoking-related cancer, according to a report published in the June 10th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

The study conducted by Dr. Carlos Iribarren and his team from Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Oakland, California also stated that alcohol consumption in addition to cigar smoking pushed some of these risks even higher. Cigar smokers who had three or more drinks per day faced a risk of mouth and throat cancer nearly eight times that of nonsmokers who drink two or fewer drinks per day.

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