Slippery slope: ‘A smoke a day, could blow your health away’

Doctors at dental college create awareness about tobacco-related diseases.

KARACHI: About 25 million people in Pakistan smoke and according to an estimate, about half of them will die of tobacco-related diseases, said Dr Syed Hussain Askary, the head of Dental Public Health and director of Academics and Administration at the Fatima Jinnah Dental College (FJDC).

According to the World Health Organisation, 5.4 million deaths around the world are caused every year due to the use of tobacco and by the year 2030, there will be more than eight million deaths every year. Unfortunately, reports suggest that 80 per cent of these deaths will be in developing countries like Pakistan.

The dental college observed the Tobacco Control Week, the inaugural seminar for which was held on May 30, to mark the World No Tobacco Day celebrated annually around the world on May 31.

Pakistan Dental Association Karachi President Prof. Dr Naveed Rashid, FJDC Principal Prof. Dr Tasleem Hosein, and head of oral pathology at FJDC, Dr Gulrukh Askary, were among the active participants in the event.



Leaders and experts in the field presented latest research and information and provided training to over 1,000 attendees.

The seminar highlighted the number of diseases affecting the heart and lungs which are directly linked to the use of tobacco, with smoking being a major risk factor for heart attack, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, and cancer - particularly lung cancer, and mouth and pancreatic cancer.

According to the doctors, smoking is among the main causes of bladder cancer. The high prevalence of oral cancer in Pakistan has been linked to the use of tobacco, particularly in conjunction with chewing betel leaf and gutka. While oral cancer is the 11th most common cancer across the globe, it is the second most common cancer in Pakistan - after lung cancer in males and breast cancer in females.

According to Dr Hussain Askary, dentists in Pakistan were playing a very important role in addressing the use of tobacco by people, especially among the youth of the country.

Tobacco-induced oral diseases include periodontal disease, tooth loss and congenital defects.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2013.