Abstract
Smokeless tobacco use, especially among adolescents, appears to have gained increased recent popularity. A resurgence in the use of this product was identified in the mid‐1970s. Surveys in the United States have documented that between 8% and 30% of all high school males are regular users of smokeless tobacco products. Investigators have identified specific clinical lesions associated with smokeless tobacco use that appear most frequently as wrinkled mucosal surfaces with delicate white stria. Such lesions have been termed smokeless tobacco keratoses. Gingival inflammation and periodontal inflammation have also been associated with the use of this product. The purpose of the current investigation was to determine the effectiveness of a specific intervention aid, video instruction, for providing teenagers with information concerning the health risk of smokeless tobacco use. The video provided new information to students and appeared to be an effective tool for student health education. It is, however, unclear at this point how well the information will be retained or whether or not viewing the videotape will encourage the student to reconsider the habit and decrease the likelihood that he or she will begin or continue it. These aspects and the long‐term impact of the video instruction need to be addressed by a longitudinally designed study and future research on smokeless tobacco use among teenagers.
Notes
Professor and Chairman, Division of Oral Pathology and Oncology, University of Colorado School of Dentistry, Professor of Pathology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver.