Oral Cancer

What are Some of the Major Factors of Oral Cancer?

Smoking and alcohol drinking are the main causal factors of oral cancer. When both products are used the risks are multiplied rather than added. People who smoke two or more packets of cigarettes and drink four or more units of alcohol a day have a 35 times increased risk of developing oral cancer compared with those who neither smoke nor drink more than two units of alcohol a day.

If you have an ulcer in your mouth that is painless and does not heal within 2 weeks it is essential that you attend for an examination of this ulcer to exclude oral cancer
Non-healing painless ulcers can be a sign of oral cancer as can white or red patches in your mouth, however it should be noted that the majority of white patches in mouths are not cancerous.

Tobacco

The world health organisation states the following about tobacco use worldwide
Tobacco use is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced. It kills more than five million people a year – an average of one person every six seconds – and accounts for one in 10 adult deaths. Up to half of current users will eventually die of a tobacco-related disease.
Tobacco users who die prematurely deprive their families of income, raise the cost of health care and hinder economic development.
In some countries, children from poor households are frequently employed in tobacco farming to provide family income. These children are especially vulnerable to “green tobacco sickness”, which is caused by the nicotine that is absorbed through the skin from the handling of wet tobacco leaves.

Gradual killer

Because there is a lag of several years between when people start using tobacco and when their health suffers, the epidemic of tobacco-related disease and death has just begun.

Tobacco caused 100 million deaths in the 20th century. If current trends continue, it will cause up to one billion deaths in the 21st century.
Unchecked, tobacco-related deaths will increase to more than eight million per year by 2030. More than 80% of those deaths will be in low- and middle-income countries.

Second-hand smoke kills

Second-hand smoke is the smoke that fills restaurants, offices or other enclosed spaces when people burn tobacco products such as cigarettes, bidis and water pipes. There is no safe level of second-hand tobacco smoke.

Almost half of children regularly breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke.
Over 40% of children have at least one smoking parent.
Second-hand smoke causes 600 000 premature deaths per year.
In 2004, children accounted for 28% of the deaths attributable to second-hand smoke.
There are more than 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.
In adults, second-hand smoke causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. In infants, it causes sudden death. In pregnant women, it causes low birth weight.

Alcohol

What are the recommended limits of alcohol drinking?

up to 2 to 3 units a day for a woman
up to 3 to 4 units a day for a man
2 days free from alcohol for everyone.

What is a unit of alcohol?

One unit of alcohol is 10 ml by volume, or 8 g by weight, of pure alcohol. For example, one unit of alcohol is about equal to:

half a pint of ordinary strength beer, lager, or cider (3–4% alcohol by volume)
a small pub measure (25 ml) of spirits (40% alcohol by volume)
a standard pub measure (50 ml) of fortified wine such as sherry or port (20% alcohol by volume).

There are one and a half units of alcohol in: