Awareness on smoking cessation counseling among dentists in Kerala, India

• Main Authors: Benley George, Vinod Mathew Mulamoottil, Sunu Alice Cherian, Jacob John, T Aby Mathew, Shibu Thomas Sebastian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2015-01-01
• Series: Journal of Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry
• Subjects: Counseling; dentist; smoking; tobacco products
• Online Access: http://www.jiaphd.org/article.asp?issn=2319-5932;year=2015;volume=13;issue=3;spage=254;epage=258;aulast=George
• ISSN: 2319-5932; 2350-0484

Introduction: Although dentists are ideally placed to deliver smoking cessation advice and assistance to their patients, smoking cessation interventions are not often incorporated as a routine part of dental care. Aim: To assess the awareness on smoking cessation counseling among dental practitioners in Kerala. Materials and Methods: A pretested questionnaire was used for the study. Four hundred and sixteen registered dentists practicing all over Kerala participated in the survey. Results: Dentists are willing to ask and advise patients about smoking, but are less inclined to assist patients to quit or arrange follow-up. Dentists are more likely to implement one-off, opportunistic interventions rather than take a systematic preventive approach. Dentists are interested in attending further education and say they require training to be relevant to the context of their day-to-day running of the dental practice. Conclusions: Training should aim to legitimize the dentist′s role in smoking cessation and provide strategies and resources so that dentists can practice interventions as part of their day-to-day work.