Background:
Health is a state of complete wellbeing free from any discomfort and pain. Despite remarkable world-wide progress in the field of diagnostic, curative and preventive medicine. India has the second largest tribal population of the world next to the African countries. About half of the world's autochthonous people live in India, thus making India home to many tribes which have an interesting and varied history of origins, customs and social practices. The present study was conducted to assess the tobacco use, awarness and its effect on health among Malayali tribes, Yelagiri Hills, Tamil nadu, India.

Methods:
The inhabitants of the 14 villages of the Yelagiri hills, who have completed 18years and residing for more than 15years present on the day of examination and who were willing to participate in the study were included. Data was collected from a cross-sectional survey, using a Survey Proforma, clinical examinationand a pre-tested questionnaire which included Demographic data, tobacco habits. An intra-oral examination was carried out by a single examiner to assess the Oral Health Status using WHO Oral Health Surveys - Basic Methods Proforma (1997).SPSS version15 was used for statistical analysis.

Results:
Results showed that among 660 study population, 381(57.7%) had no formal education. Among the study population 75%) had the habit of alcohol consumption. Of those who had the habit of smoking, 26% smoked beedi, 10.9% smoked cigarette, 65% chewed raw tobacco, 18% chewed Hans and 28% had a combination of smoking and smokeless tobacco usage. Prevalence of oral mucosal lesions was very high.

Conclusions:
From the results of this study it may be concluded that the Malayali tribes were characterized by a lack of awareness about oral health, deep rooted dental beliefs, high prevalence of tobacco use and limited access to health services.