Tobacco has been hailed as a gift from the gods, a miraculous cure for all of life’s ills, a filthy habit, a sad addiction, and the greatest disease causing product known to man. There have been more than 900,000 research papers published so far on this topic. It is common knowledge that tobacco smoking is the single major cause of lung cancer and cardiovascular disease in the United States, contributing to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each year (Dani & Biassi, 2001, p.439). More than fifty carcinogens have been identified in tobacco smoke. Some of the toxic agents found include carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, hydrogen cyanide and formaldehyde. It has been calculated that about 4 million people die every year due to smoking and by the year 2025 about 10 million people will be killed every year by tobacco smoking. (Jabbour, Reddy, Muna & Achutti, 2002). In the US, tobacco causes nearly 1 in 5 deaths, killing more than 440,000 Americans each year. Smoking is the single most preventable cause of death in our society. Sadly, one fourth to one third of American adults still continue to smoke (Marcus, 1987, p.

Oral mucosal diseases

In the short term smoking increases the flow rate of the parotid gland. However, the data on long-term effects on salivary flow rates show no difference between smokers and non-smokers. (Parvinen, 1984) The pH of saliva rises during smoking. Over longer time periods smokers have a lower pH in stimulated whole saliva, however one report showed no difference. Buffer capacity was found to be lower in smokers (Parvinen).

Pregnant women who smoke risk the health and lives of their unborn babies. Smoking during pregnancy is linked with a greater chance of miscarriage, stillbirths, infant deaths, and sudden infant death syndrome. When a pregnant woman smokes, she’s smoking for

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