THE first pull blows the stress away, but a few more puffs from that cigarette and you could start losing teeth and, worse, your mouth could begin to decay.

The process is called oral cancer, which affects the soft parts of the mouth and is among the ten most common cancers in the world.

And while most people know that smoking can kill, what is less widely understood is that tobacco use can disfigure, attacking the cheek, tongue and roof of the mouth.

Cancer cases in Trinidad and Tobago between 1995 and 2004, as reported by the Cancer Registry, put oral cancer among males as the ninth most common occurrence of cancer.

Figures from the Dental School put oral cancer as making up 62.7 per cent of all cancers of the mouth seen at the school.

In 2002, of all the smoking-related deaths, oral cancer accounted for 69 per cent, second to lung cancer, which made up 90 per cent of the mortality figure.

By 2030, smoking-related deaths in this country are expected to go up by six per cent, Ministry of Health figures suggest.

Prof Paluri Murti, an expert on oral cancer, recently delivered a lecture titled ’I Love Tobacco. Is it Harmful to my Mouth?’

The answer, he said, is yes.

In an interview with the Express, Murti said that 90 per cent of oral cancer victims develop it because of tobacco use.

The Indian-born professor of oral pathology is the director of the University of the West Indies’ Dental School, and was part of a renowned group of international researchers who pioneered research in India on oral cancer and pre-cancerous lesions in relation to tobacco usage.

’What starts as a kind of social habit progresses on to an addiction for reasons of nicotine’s euphoric effect. Whatever the reasons for starting smoking, ultimately, smokers love it because of the nicotine, so the reason for taking cigarettes is no longer the reason for continuing,’ Murti said.

And how we love our cigarettes!

Smokers in this country puff over half a billion cigarettes every year, ranking Trinidad and Tobago as one of the top tobacco consumers worldwide.

And joining the over quarter million adults who light up on average five times a day are thousands of schoolchildren between 13 and 15.

A Global Youth Tobacco Survey in 2004 ranked T&T as having the fourth highest smoking prevalence in the age group. About 40 per cent of young people are also exposed to second-hand smoke, called passive smoking at home.

Local research suggests that between 60 and 70 per cent of youths are exposed to tobacco advertising, which Murti described as ’big impact’ and suggested there should be a total ban on ads that can promote cigarette smoking.

When a cigarette is lit more than 4,000 chemicals are released into the air through smoke, including more than 60 cancer-causing chemicals, research suggests.

In this country, the amount of carbon dioxide-the leading greenhouse gas-produced by smokers annually is close to 2,725 tonnes, based on each cigarette producing five grammes of the gas and a per capita consumption of over 2,000 cigarettes per smoker.

It would take 378 cars driving 25 miles a day for an entire year to produce the same amount of carbon dioxide produced by all the cigarettes smoked annually.

’Non-smokers have an equal right to breathe fresh air,’ Murti argued.

Government has attempted to introduce a ban on smoking in public places and private places of work with some seriously tough penalties. The proposed legislation went to a joint select committee of parliament which removed clauses considered onerous. The revised bill is expected to return to Parliament after the current break.

While the Tobacco Atlas reflected a less than two per cent drop in the number of adult smokers and about a four per cent drop in youth smokers between 2002 and 2006, more black smoke is on the horizon. In a statement to Parliament in January, Health Minister Jerry Narace said smoking-related cancer and cardiovascular disease, was ’the current leading causes of death in our country’ and that they were expected to increase by at least six per cent by 2030.

In 2002, of all the reported medical deaths, 30 per cent of male cases were tobacco-related and 15 per cent for females.

A further breakdown of smoking-related deaths in that year of persons 35 years and over, 90 per cent died of lung cancer, 69 per cent of oral cancer, 38 per cent respiratory disease and 19 per cent heart disease and stroke.

Murti believes that in addition to a total ban on tobacco advertising, there must be a cultural change to minimise the harmful effects of tobacco on users and non-smokers alike. He believes the focus should be on tobacco control methods and for adults to set better examples.