Summary: | Introduction
Dentists are in a critical position to help patients quit smoking. This
study analyses the effectiveness of Turkish dentists in smoking cessation as part
of routine patient care.
Methods
An in-person cross-sectional survey on previous dental visit experiences
was completed by 226 patients recruited from the Department of Periodontology,
Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Turkey, from March 2019 to September 2019.
The questionnaire included topics on patient’s smoking/quit characteristics,
experiences on smoking cessation from their dentists, and willingness for the
implementation of smoking cessation advice by dentists.
Results
In all, 38% of the patients were current smokers, 8% were former smokers,
and 68% tried to quit previously. Smokers demonstrated consistently higher scores
for plaque index, gingival index, and probing depth, than former/non-smokers
(p<0.05). Patients’ knowledge of adverse effects was high, and the patients
presented a positive attitude toward receiving cessation activities from dentists
(86.7%). A total of 89% responded positively to be asked about their smoking
behavior. However, the dentists’ approach for cessation discussions did not go any
further than listing the harmful effects. Only 32% of the patients were informed
about side effects of smoking and one-third were encouraged to quit. In general,
offering smoking cessation advice was relatively infrequent, and the majority of
patients tried to quit smoking by themselves (76%) without using any nicotine
replacement product (84%).
Conclusions
Smoking leads to oral health problems. Dentists in Turkey may ask
their patients’ about their smoking habits but less frequently offer practical help
to quit.
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