How quickly can mouth cancer develop from using smokeless tobacco?

It Varies For People: Smokeless tobacco contains the same cancer inducing chemicals that are in all tobacco products. Since it is held in the mouth, the harmful chemicals are directly contacting your mouth mucosa. The duration of onset of cancer varies from person to person -- some teens get oral cancer from it in only a few years while others use it for decades. Best advise is to stop using all tobacco products.

Indeterrninate: Although a true malignancy may take longer, changes associated with the use of such a known carcinogen are observable fairly quickly. Dont try to "play the odds" here. Continued use creates a "not if, but when" scenario. Quit now!

Unknown: Unknown, better not to start. See oral surgeon or ENT doc if you have any of these symptoms: Persistent mouth sore, persistent mouth pain, a lump or thickening in the cheek, a white/red patch on the gums, tongue, tonsil, or lining of the mouth, a sore throat, hoarseness or feeling that something is caught in the throat that does not go away, difficulty swallowing/chewing.