Prevalence of type of Chewing Tobacco in Tobacco Users in Patients Reported in Private Dental Institution

Abstract

Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of early death, disease around the world. India has a high prevalence rate of tobacco consumption, both smoking and smokeless forms. There are many types of chewing tobacco such as pan masala, khaini, mawa, snuff, zarda, mishri etc. The aim of this study is to find the prevalence rate of the type of chewing tobacco in tobacco users in patients reported to, Chennai. It's a retrospective cross-sectional study in a university setting. Case records were collected and analysed the data of 41000 patients between June 2019 and March 2020 from the private dental institution. Data was then imported to IBM-SPSS v20 for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics was done for further analysis. Among types of chewing tobacco, pan masala was prevalent (55.7%), with male predilection being 92.3%. The common age group which was seen chewing tobacco was 18-30 years-28.4%, with type of habit being only chewing tobacco-87.1%. Within the limits of the study, prevalence was seen in males with 18-30 age group being the most affected. Pan masala was the most prevalent type of chewing tobacco followed by gutka. As pan and gutka are the most common types used in Chennai, it is more carcinogenic than other types of chewing tobacco and its usage is increasing among the youth. Precautions must be taken such as anti-tobacco intervention to decrease the consumption of tobacco which causes a decrease in chances of cancer formation.