It was ‘Quit the Spit’ day at Naval Hospital Bremerton as the Tobacco Cessation Facilitator, Dental Services and Health Promotion teamed up to actively promote the Great American Spit Out (GASpO) Feb. 24. The event was part of “Quit Tobacco—Make Everyone Proud,” a U.S. Department of Defense on-going educational campaign tailored specifically for the U.S. military to give up tobacco products.

“Chewing tobacco is a dangerous concept with definite health risks,” said Patrick W. Graves, Naval Hospital Bremerton tobacco cessation facilitator. “When a person puts chewing tobacco into their mouth, they are instantly exposed to significant dangers such as oral cancer, pancreatic cancer, esophagus cancer, stomach cancer and colon cancer. A dip of chew has 28 cancer-causing carcinogens.”

Data compiled by DoD states that chewing tobacco is used by 19 percent of 18- to 24-year-old military males, approximately twice the national average. Chewing tobacco is not a safe alternative to smoking because the body absorbs 3-4 times more nicotine, making it potentially more addictive than cigarettes.

“We have half a dozen staff members here at NHB who are in the process of quitting and we’re doing all we can to help them out,” Graves said.

Graves attests that as a whole, Navy and Marine Corps personnel tend to be better informed than the general public about the inherent dangers of tobacco usage.

“We might know more but due to our demographics, but we also tend to smoke and dip 35 to 50 percent more than our civilian counterparts,” said Graves. “It’s always been a cultural thing in the service, but that notion is gradually changing. The ironic thing about using chewing tobacco is that it’s such a contradictory habit to a person putting in the effort to maintain their readiness, training, physical fitness and be on the top of their game. Dipping and chewing negates that and takes away from all the gains.”

“Our partners in the dental community tend to see the impact of what chewing tobacco can do a lot earlier that I do,” continued Graves. “The hallmark is a pre-cancerous lesion and our dentists and dental technicians are really good at recognizing any early warning signs.”

“The big thing we stress is the bone loss that occurs by the front teeth and the gum disease and the cancers that chewing causes. The gums can’t handle the irritation from the tobacco. Another thing we look for is cancer of the tongue caused from the carcinogen juices of the chewing tobacco,” said Lt. Melanie Perry, general dentist assigned to Dental Health Clinic Bangor, noting that using smokeless tobacco breaks down gum lines, stains teeth, and is a prime source of halitosis/bad breath.

Although it was business as usual for dental services at NHB, Naval Branch Health Clinic Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Naval Branch Health Clinic Bangor, and Naval Branch Health Clinic Everett, the staff was more forthcoming and open in educating and reminding personnel on the health risks associated with chewing tobacco.  Health Promotion staff have also provided herbal-based and non-nicotine based chew as an alternative to chewing tobacco.

“We’re actually going to order a supply of the herbal-based chew to have on hand at all times at our Bangor Dental Clinic,” Perry said.

Graves encourages anyone who is thinking of quitting cigarettes or chewing/smokeless tobacco to contact their primary care doctor, unit/ship/boat corpsman, NHB’s Tobacco Cessation Facilitator office at or (360) 475-4818, or the DoD website at http://www.ucanquit2.org/