Health News Library

If you try:

* Staying away from certain foods that are known to cause bad breath,
* Removing bacteria and food particles by brushing your teeth and flossing,
* Removing bacteria from the tongue,
* Making sure that your mouth does not become too dry (maintaining saliva flow),

and still have bad breath, you may want to see your dentist. This is because anaerobic bacteria in your mouth may have found special places to hide. Normally there is a small 1-3 mm space between your gums and teeth. This is known as the periodontal pocket or pocket for short. When pockets get to be 5mm or more they create deeper and more secluded hiding places for bacteria.

Your dentist should be able to detect these periodontal pockets during a routine gum exam. These areas are difficult to keep clean and may create a continuous supply of sulfur gases. The more areas that you have harboring these bacteria, the worse the breath.

What creates these widened pockets which harbor bacteria? These deep pockets often result from the breakdown of the gums caused by periodontal disease.

If you have persistent bad breath, you should definitely see your dentist to find out if you have periodontal disease. Other symptoms of periodontal disease include:

• Swollen or bleeding gums
• Tender gums
• Loosening and shifting teeth
• Sensitive teeth
• Pain upon chewing

If you have periodontal disease, your dentist can help you treat it and consequently treat the bad breath associated with it.

Stop smoking campaigns are taking different forms in different parts of the world. In the United States, there has been a heavy emphasis on the use of commercials, billboards and programs aimed at young children and adults. Many of these programs are funded by big tobacco companies as the result of a lawsuit lost by tobacco them. There have also been movements to make smoking illegal in bars, restaurants, malls and other indoor facilities. This is because of the well documented effects of second hand smoke on non-smokers.

Other countries have also begun to make efforts to curb smoking in their country. For example, in Korea, various districts have declared certain streets as “smoke-free” zones. These streets or areas are generally those that are heavily populated by young children, teenagers and young girls. While individuals can not be arrested or even fined if they smoke in these zones, these places were created to decrease the acceptance of smoking. They have been successful. The percentage of individuals who smoke it these areas have decreased.

In 2006, Michael R. Bloomberg donated $125 million to go towards a campaign to fight tobacco use all over the world. Five organizations were given money to help in the fight. They included the World Health Organization, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, World Lung Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation.

Smoking cigarettes is a very dangerous habit that claims the lives of millions of people worldwide. Along with the increased incidence of death, illnesses such as cancer, lung and heart related problems are issues for smokers and those who live with them. Countries around the world are taking note and are spreading the word amongst their countrymen. Commercials, pamphlets, youth programs and smoke free zones are all ways in which legislators are involving themselves in the fight against cigarettes and tobacco use in their countries.

As different countries get involved, it will be easier to share successful ideas and campaigns amongst each other. Figuring out what works and then providing that information with global neighbours will help decrease the amount of individuals that are poisoning themselves and their families, friends and loved ones. The more countries that are in the fight against smoking, the better it is for everyone, especially those that these messages are aimed at. As more and more individuals recognize the true dangers of smoking and are encouraged to give it up, then hopefully the worldwide numbers of smoking-related illness and death will decrease.

Health conscious people often frown at the sight of smokers. This is because we have this notion that those puffing cigarettes many times each day are prone to getting cancer of the lungs. But did you know that lung cancer is not to be totally blamed on smoking cigarettes like what many of us believe? Surprisingly, it is the nonsmokers who are more at risk of getting the disease.

A new study has found that people who do not smoke can get lung cancer, too. The study, published in the February 10 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, revealed that people who never smoked can get the disease with women more at risk than men. Researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Northern California Cancer Center collected data from the United States and Sweden that monitored cases of lung cancer in more than one million people aged 40 to 79. They then calculated the incidence rates based on new cases per person per year. The researchers found that the incidence rate of lung cancer in women non-smokers ranged from 14.4. to 20.8 cases per 100,000 person-years.

Lead researchers, however, say that many factors can lead to this disease among people who never smoke. Exposure of women to secondhand smoke may be partly blamed for their higher risk compared to men. Co-author Ellen Chang, ScD, an epidemiologist at the Northern California Cancer Center, said secondhand smoke does increase the chance of getting lung cancer so the cases that we observe can be attributed to that. Meanwhile, lead author Heather Wakelee, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Stanford University, also said that although some environment pollutants such as asbestos, chromium, arsenic and radon may cause the disease in non-smokers, they have not been proven. When more concrete factors are eventually known, she said doctors will be able to understand more how cancer works allowing them to find new treatment.

Each year, over 180,000 Americans are diagnosed with lung cancer. The disease actually causes more deaths than other types of cancer like breast, colon and prostate. The researchers are hoping that their study will raise public awareness and help ease the stigma among non-smoking patients.

So if you want to avoid cancer of any type, what’s the best thing to do? Very simple – just eat the right healthy foods, get some exercise and stop smoking. In other words, changes in behavior and lifestyle are very crucial. Medical experts say don’t do it later, next week or next month but right now.

Be cautious of what you eat and drink. Eating lots of fruits and veggies will surely lower your chances of getting colon, mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach and lung cancers. Avoid frequent consumption of red meat as much as possible as it can lead to colon cancer. Experts also recommended taking a multivitamin that has folate, a B vitamin, every day. As for drinks, wine and other alcoholic beverages should be taken in moderation as overconsumption leads to a higher risk of getting oral, esophageal, breast and other cancers.

Don’t forget to stay active, too. Being overweight and physically inactive have been blamed for 20 to 30 percent of the most common cancers in the U.S. But losing weight, especially for women in their adult years, and increasing physical activity can make you less prone to getting the disease. Physical activity has also been found to have an impact on the recurrence of a cancer or survival of a patient diagnosed with breast cancer.

Smoking is the single biggest cause of cancer in the world, and accounts for one in four cancer deaths in the States. Smoking is known to cause around eighty percent of lung cancer around the world. The 1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse has shown that about 62 million people in the United States above 12 years or below 29 percent of the population are current cigarette smokers. So, this makes nicotine, the addictive component of tobacco, one of the most heavily used addictive drugs in the United States. Within the United States, tobacco use was responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths ora an estimated 438,000 premature deaths per year from 1997 to 2001 and thus, smoking kills five times more people than road accidents, overdoses, murder, suicides and HIV all put together.

Nicotine: Many people believe that nicotine causes cancer but the fact is that it only leads to addiction. Whenever a person inhales cigarette smoke, the nicotine present in the smoke is rapidly absorbed into the blood and its affect on the brain is shown within 7 seconds. In the brain, nicotine activates the same reward system as do other drug abuse such as cocaine or amphetamine, but to a lesser extent. Nicotine acts on this reward system and is believed to be responsible for drug-induced feelings of pleasure and, over time, nicotine addiction. It also increases alertness and enhances mental performance. Studies indicate that nicotine by itself may not be harmful. But, when it is combined with other harmful substances such as areca nut, cancer causing catechu substitutes like gambier and magnesium carbonate, it may show damaging effects.

Apart from nicotine, cigarette smoke contains around 4,000 different compounds, many of which may cause cancer. In fact tobacco smoke contains about 70 different carcinogens or cancer-causing substances. When you inhale smoke, these chemicals enter your lungs and spread around the rest of your body. Scientists have shown that these chemicals are mutagenic and can damage DNA and change expression of various genes which may lead to cancer by making your cells proliferate and multiply uncontrollably. No wonder, smoking is the major cause of lung cancer and is also associated with the increased risk for cancer of the mouth, nasal cavities (nose), larynx (voice box), pharynx (throat), esophagus (swallowing tube), stomach, liver, pancreas, kidney, bladder, uterine cervix, and acute myeloid leukemia.

Oral tobacco products contain 28 known cancer-causing agents (carcinogens). Chewing tobacco is a known cause of oral cancer and according to Women’s Health in South East Asia (WHOSEA), almost one-half of all cancer cases in men and one-quarter of all cancer cases in women in India are believed to be tobacco-related.

Not all smokers get cancer: Years of research has proven that smoking causes cancer but this doesn’t mean that all smokers will definitely get cancer or that all non-smokers won’t. It means that smoking greatly increases the risk of cancer and Smokers are, on average, much more likely to get cancer than non-smokers.