L. Leelavathi, Dhanraj Ganapathy. Passive Smoking - An Overview. Int J Dentistry Oral Sci. 2021;8(7):3416-3418. 3416 OPEN ACCESS https://scidoc.org/IJDOS.php Passive Smoking - An Overview Review Article L. Leelavathi 1* , Dhanraj Ganapathy 2 1 Senior Lecturer, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai-77, India. 2 Professor and Head, Department of Prosthodontics, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai-77, India. International Journal of Dentistry and Oral Science (IJDOS) ISSN: 2377-8075 *Corresponding Author: L. Leelavathi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chen- nai-77, India. E-mail: leelavathi.sdc@saveetha.com Received: April 09, 2021 Accepted: July 09, 2021 Published: July 19, 2021 Citation: L. Leelavathi, Dhanraj Ganapathy. Passive Smoking - An Overview. Int J Dentistry Oral Sci. 2021;8(7):3416-3418. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.19070/2377-8075-21000694 Copyright: L. Leelavathi © 2021. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribu- tion and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction The term unicystic ameloblastoma (UA) refers to those cystic lesi- Tobacco use is the second major cause of mortality worldwide, and responsible for the mortality of about one in ten adults all over the world. World Health Organisation focuses on the ways to control the supply of and demand for tobacco products and also to protect public health.Cigarette smoking is considered as one the biggest public health disasters of the 20th century, with more than 20 million attributable deaths. The World Health Organiza- tion estimates that tobacco use cause death of about six million people each year and 600,000 from the effects of passive smok- ing.[1] Tobacco history goes back more than 4000 years. Native Americans used tobacco as a narcotic substance and Christopher Columbus brought the tobacco back to Europe in 1493. During 16th and 17th centuries tobacco usage increases in Europe. [2] More than 4000 bioactive chemical compounds have been found from cigarette smoke, of which over 60 are cancer inducing com- pounds. [3, 4] Topical, subcutaneous administration of polyaromatic hydro- carbons, found in cigarette smoke, may cause cancer in animals. Tobacco chewing and snuff taking have also been reported to produce cancers including oesophageal, oral, pharyngeal and la- ryngeal cancers [2]. Health Effects Of Smoking Cigarette smoking causes acute adverse health effects as well as chronic health effects that appear at older ages, such as lung can- cer. Long term health effects are more likely to be fatal than the short-term health effects which are less likely to be directly fa- tal. [5] Lung cancer accounts for 12.8% of all cancers all over the world and it is highly lethal among both males and females. Tobacco use has been reported to be the major cause of 90% of lung cancer in males and 79% of lung cancer in female. [2] Smokers were found to have 20-40 times more risk for develop- ing lung cancer when compared to non-smokers. [6] Pulmonary carcinoma risk was found to be increased when cigarette smok- ing is combined with exposure to arsenic, radon and asbestos. [2] Exposure to carcinogens results in DNA damage in smokers which is found to be directly related with the numerous cytoge- netic changes present in lung cancer.4Cigarette smoking damages the endothelium in the arteries and it was reported that nicotine and oxidizing chemicals are related with dysfunction of the en- dothelium. Smoking is related with cardiovascular events due to increase in the risk of thrombosis. [4] Abstract Tobacco use is one among the harmful habit that kills its consumers. Tobacco is a risk factor for various conditions and is associ- ated with various cancers. Tobacco addiction is attributed to nicotine present in the tobacco products. Smoking not only harms the smokers but also the persons who doesn’t smoke by means of second-hand smoke. Though various measures been initiated and implemented to curb the tobacco use, yet the complete success is not achieved. Coordinated effort by government agencies, community organisations, professional organisations at the national and international level are required for achieving the goal of tobacco control. Keywords: Passive Smoking; Framework Convention; Tobacco Control.