Oral cancer is a highly lethal disease and one of the most debilitating and disfiguring of all malignancies in the world. According to Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2010 report, 60% of tobacco users in India use only smokeless tobacco. Among 206 million smokeless tobacco users, 65.1 million are consuming gutkha. In recent years, gutkha is recognized as a life threatening disorder with the serious health consequences. The aim of this review is to increase the attention to complete ban of tobacco use, awareness, knowledge, and beliefs of public about the harms of not only gutkha but also all other tobacco products and also to promote the intentions to quit the habits.
Tobacco use is a main cause of oral cancer and a preventable cause of premature death in India.1,2 According to Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2010 report, the majority of 60% Indian tobacco users use only smokeless tobacco.3 In recent years, a combination of areca nut and tobacco has been introduced in India known as gutkha (chewable tobacco form). Gutkha is consumed in most parts of India as a mouth freshener.
