Smokeless Isn't Harmless

Chewing tobacco and baseball have gone hand in hand for a long time in American culture. Unfortunately many young baseball players do not realize the health risks when picking up the habit. The price many chewing tobacco users pay is cancer, tumors, gum disease, loss of jaw or cheek bone, and loss of taste buds or the tongue. "Thirty-eight years after the end of his baseball career, chewing tobacco user Bill Tuttle had an ominous bulge in his cheek — a tumor so big that it came through his cheek and extended through his skin. Doctors removed the tumor, along with much of Tuttle's face. Chewing tobacco as a young man had cost him his jawbone, his right cheekbone, a lot of his teeth and gumline, and his taste buds. Cancer finally took Tuttle's life in 1998. He spent his last years trying to steer people away from smokeless tobacco". More on Bill Tuttle and smokeless tobacco can be read here: http://kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/tobacco/smokeless.html#

We are proud to see little leaguer Brexton Clubb, 12 years old, from Peoria, Ariz., was the winner of Oral Health America’s 14th Annual NSTEP (National Spit Tobacco Education Project) Slogan Contest. Brexton’s winning slogan — “Run bases, catch balls. Chew tobacco and risk it all!” — was featured during the 10-day Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport, Pa. Read more here: http://www.dental-tribune.com/articles/news/usa/25651_winning_slogan_educates_americans_about_the_dangers_of_spit_tobacco.html