Nicotine can get you hooked on spit tobacco. If you hold an average-size dip in your mouth for 30 minutes, you get as much nicotine as you would from smoking 2 to 3 cigarettes. Spit tobacco can cause gum recession, mouth sores, and oral cancer. Gum recession is usually permanent and is difficult to repair. Sores, white patches and lumps inside the mouth are signs of tissue damage caused by using spit tobacco.
Some white patches can turn into cancer over time.
Surgery to treat oral cancer is often extensive and disfiguring and may involve removing parts of the face, tongue, cheek, or lip. Difficulty chewing, swallowing, talking, and even breathing can result from cancer and the surgery required to treat it. Oral cancer can spread to other parts of the body quickly. On average, half of oral cancer victims are dead within 5 years of diagnosis. Preparing to Quit.