Hi,

I am new to this board so first let me introduce myself. My name is Brian. I am a 30 almost 31 year old male. I am overall healthy. I exercise regurlary. Eat right and take an array of vitamins and supplements. BUT I AM A LONG TIME SMOKELESS TOBACCO USER..

My Question Concerns the following:

I have used smokeless tobacco since the age of 18. I have tried to quit many times. I have tried to quit "cold turkey", box after box of nicotine gum, and yet I still continue to dip.

I know the risk associated with smokeless tobacco use and mouth cancer. And the length of time (13 years) I have been using smokeless tobacco my risk for mouth cancer is probably very high, and that is my concern.

I have no visual signs of mouth cancer. I have researched the warning signs--luekoplakia, etc. I know that the tobacco being placed in the mouth over time causes irratation and for a new layer of cells to build up and some of those cells could become out of control and turn into cancer. I also know that smokeless tobacco contains carcinongens.

So, finally here is my main question: USUALLY HOW LONG DOES A SMOKELESS TOBACOO USER HAVE BEFORE HE OR SHE IS IN DANGER OF DEVOLOPING ORAL CANCER. I know that it obviously varies from peroson to person. But I was looking for a general time frame.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated

Hi Brian- My husband- (names Brian) dipped for years as did his brother and 2 friends still do. Ironically I got tongue cancer this year and I don't even smoke. Yes your changes do increase if you dip but its really a crap shoot who gets it and who doesn't. I think I got mine from having either trauma to my tongue through dentristry (braces zrays etc)and the cells just multiplied when they grew back. That is all I can figure- because the Dr. said it couldnt' be from the few brief years I smoked in college.

I now it is a difficult habit to quit- but you really will decrease your chances of getting this disease. It is no fun at all.

I had most of my entire tongue tongue removed Mar 2nd . My tumor wasn't that big but it was growing accross the back of my tongue - so they had to take most of it. My life is changed forever. sPeaking drinking and eating will never ever be the same for me. I plan to not let these siabilities hold me back as much as possible but I sure I will have lots of stress and duress without them.

So think of me. I'd love to just be able to speak eat and drink as effortlessly as I did before-- I dream of it and I am really sad that I lost my tongue to this disease. It totally sucks and I didn't deserve it -- no one does-- not even someone who dips... but it is especially tragic if you didn't smoke or dip.

You owe it to yourself to quit. Go to your GP and they can prescribe you different drugs that will curb your nicotine addiction-- which is a very real physical addiction. Also accupuncture and hypnotherapy are also other effective options. Just monitor anything weird you see in your mouth and demand it be biopsied right away. I approached my GP about the sore on my tongue back in November-- She thought it was viral and related to a cold and gave me steroid cream and antibiotics. I wnet back to her again for similar symptoms and no referral again.. Had she correctly diagnosed me or referred me if she didn't know what it was for sure- then instead of me having to wait 3 months and finally just go to another GP and get a ENT refferal- I would probably still have at least some of my tongue left and my quality of life would be so much better. My tumor although it started out small was pretty aggressive. 2 months was all it took for it to grow to 4cm and by then it was too late to save my tongue.

Anyways-- don't beat yourself up too much but just know that you are in a high risk category and keep a close watch on anything funny you see in your mouth and be diligent about getting it checked out.

Early detection is the key and you sound like you are on the watch so you should be fine!

Best of Luck to ya!

Get on the "Early Detection" bandwagon, everybody!!! (and, of course, the stop-using-tobacco-in-all-its-forms bandwagon too.)

My case is very similar to yours, Kate. My lesion was on my gums, on the maxilla (the upper jawbone.) It was overlooked by my dentist for almost a year. He dismissed it as just a bit of periodontal irritation at the first examination. He did not have me come back to be sure that it had gotten better. 8 months later, when I returned for another routine exam (had some surgery of my own which delayed it a bit) he noted it again, and this time he cauterized it!!!!! and he did not biopsy it or have me come back to be sure that it improved. Two months later, when I looked for myself, it had spread from the outside of my gums to the inside, and onto my palate. Can you believe that EVEN THEN he did not recognize it, nor did he suspect cancer, nor did he biopsy it. He cauterized it and scraped it again, gave me one antibiotic pill, and sent me away. He simply was NOT prepared to recognize oral cancer when it was staring him in the face. When I returned the next day, he did not even look, but sent me to the periodontist, saying that it must be a periodontal problem. That dentist knew immediately that it was cancer and sent me to the oral surg. for a biopsy.

Choose your dentist wisely! And always insist on a return visit for any lesion, to be sure that it does indeed improve within two weeks. And then insist on a biopsy, at least a brush biopsy.

I, too, smoked in college...37 years ago!...but my surgeon felt that it was the cause of my getting OC. I don't really agree, but I don't have any other risk factors, exc. for a tendency to get aphthous ulcers from the least injury to my gums. Perhaps those repeated injuries were the cause....or combined with the smoking.....Nobody knows.

What everybody knows, however, is that the use of tobacco is NOT good for you in any way, and the sooner you quit, the less likely you will be to have serious problems from it.

Please stop. You don't want this disease!!

Brian,
I know you're looking for someone to say " you need to dip for (fill in the number...as long as it's more than you've dipped for) years before you're at risk"

No one can, or will. It just doesn't work that way. I was a smoker, and that undoubtedly contributed to my cancer. That said there are many who have never smoked or dipped who suffer from oral cancer.

Losing the tobacco habit is tough...but not nearly as hard as it is waking up after surgery not knowing if you have a jaw left, or not.

Quitting won't guarantee anything; you may still develop cancer. One in three people are affected by this disease in one way or another. It is the smart thing, and the healthy thing to do, though.

Talk to your doctor, and get some professional help with kicking the tobacco habit. You WILL be glad you did
Good Luck!
Wayne

Hello BRC.
This is a club YOU definately do not want to belong to.
I never dipped, but smoked for 32 years.
I have just been told I have tongue cancer.(very advanced)
It is almost Identical to misskate.
I'm 50 tears old, and have a wife of 23 years,
and three beautiful children.
I feel they are going to have to remove my WHOLE tongue also. And beleive it or not, that is the easy part of the treatment.(radiation & chemo are harder and your quality of life WILL change forever) Even if you do do all these treatments, IT CAN COME BACK!!!
I do beleive that I will choose death over these horrifying treatments. That in itself is a horrifying decision, but that's for me and no one else to make.
Keep reading these posts and you will drop to your knees and pray for GOD to help you QUIT, and not let this disease attack you.
Here's the easiest way to quit. Throw out all your chaw, and start reading this forum, and pray that you DO NOT get it, and THANK GOD that you do not have it.
So my freind, its your call. A good life, or a seat on the bench in a Living Hell?
I HOPE I SCARED THE S!@T! OUT OF YOU, BECAUSE IF I DID, I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE.
PeteyB

Here's a quick fact, BRC

It may be a roll of the dice. But if you use tobacco and drink, you are 15 TIMES more likely to get Oral Cancer.
On average, 680 will get it in your state this year, 34,000 nationally, over 400,000 world wide.
The odds are way, way better than the lottery.

QUIT GAMBLING WITH YOUR LIFE!!!
PeteyB

Brian ,

I am another young female (35) who never used tobbaco products ..or rarley alcohol......BUt have got the disease ..6 weeks ago I lost 25% of my tongue and had a modified radical neck dissection ( they cut me from ear to chin and removed almost everything ) and now facing having the tonsils done....Give IT UP !!! I do not know the Odds and the damage can already be done even ..however I beleive that every dip you Take ....increases your chance of somthing you really dont wanna mess with....So AS hard as it is to quit ...remember going through cancer is harder ....There are things the Dr can give you to help .and In the long run you will only be better off ...Best wishes and hopefully you will never have to join this group due to "havin" the illnes.

Shar

We're not sending him the right message here - 80% of oral cancer is attributed to tobacco products and we have had a fair amount of "dippers" on the boards here.

But to directly answer your original question sure you can get oral cancer in your 30's and they are finding more and more earlier cases. You can also die from it - 9,000 or so deaths a year. Heather was 28 when she died and she was originally a stage 1 as I recall. The latest forecast I read are 24,000 new cases this year (the number is higher if you include esphogeal).

You are engaging in a high risk behavior.

Check out this site http://www.outdoortexan.com./

Scroll down to "My Cancer" This could be you...

BRC - Make sure you have lots of good health insurance including dental insurance (and life insurance) because it sounds like you don't really want to quit the tobacco. While you're at it, make sure and line up a LOT of friends and relatives who can take care of you at home and when you need someone to drive you to the doctor. Also get yourself a good laptop so that you can communicate your needs after surgery since you won't be able to talk. Then there are radiation treatments and since it is difficult to throw up and drive at the same time, you'll have to get someone to drive you wherever you need to go. You'll have to bring a dishpan to throw up in unless you prefer hanging your head out the door. You'd better have a REALLY good job, too because even with the best health insurance, fighting cancer is very, very expensive. I have watched and loved and cared for my son, who is close to your age, surviving cancer surgery and radiation treatments and I cannot begin to describe the anxiety, the sleepless nights, the worry and the ache in my heart just to see how hard he was fighting the cancer beast. If you don't care about your own life, think about the that special person in your life who will be taking care of you because if you don't quit the tobacco, you have a much better chance of getting cancer. No matter what you have to do to quit the tobacco habit - it's nothing compared to what you will have to do to fight cancer.
It's your choice.

OK we have taken someone with a simple question, ( to which the simple answer is no one knows for sure, and no one knows for sure why some people die at 19 from tobacco related oral cancer and other do it for decades without problems.) and hammered our point home about quitting. Let's hope that he chooses to find a doc that will Rx him to help him quit, or he will seek other means of doing so.