smoking & kids teeth
From John Tesh on 8/1/03




I heard this on the John Tesh show early this morning...

if you smoke around your kids and their teeth are going to rot out. according to a study recently published in the of journal of the American medical association, kids who are around 2nd hand smoke are more likely to develop cavities. The direct link is still unclear, however, scientist now know that environmental tobacco smoke suppresses the immune system, lowers blood levels of vitamin C, reduces the protective properties of saliva - all things encourage cavity causing bacteria to go crazy.

2nd hand smoke is estimated to be responsible for 13% of ear infections, 15% of all children's asthma cases, & 20% of all lung infections in kids under five.

John Tesh said this is important to him cause his parents, when he was a kid, were chain smokers. He had more cavities than he could count, a whole bunch of ear infections - every time he went into a pool he came out with an ear infection. And finally, both his parents died of Lung cancer.