Your dentist can help you kick your spit tobacco habit. In addition to cleaning teeth and treating bad breath and puffy, swollen gums associated with tobacco use, your dentist may prescribe a variety of nicotine replacement therapies, such as a transdermal nicotine patch or chewing gum. Nicotine patches are worn for 24 hours over several weeks, supplying a steady flow of nicotine. Over the course of treatment the amount of nicotine in the patch decreases. Nicotine gum is slowly chewed every one to two hours. Each piece should be discarded after 20 to 30 minutes.