The impact of smoking on oral health and patient assessment of tobacco cessation support from Turkish dentists.


BEKLEN A., YILDIRIM B., MİMAROĞLU M., YAVUZ M. B.

Tobacco induced diseases, vol.19, pp.49, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 19
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Doi Number: 10.18332/tid/136418
  • Journal Name: Tobacco induced diseases
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, EMBASE, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Page Numbers: pp.49
  • Keywords: dentist, tobacco cessation, public health, oral health, Turkey, CARE, INTERVENTION, ATTITUDES, DISEASE
  • Eskisehir Osmangazi University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

© 2021 International Society for the Prevention of Tobacco Induced Diseases. All rights reserved.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.