Could Your Dentist Help You Quit Smoking? Maybe... One Day

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Dental News
The Journal of the American Dental Association reports that both dentists and dental hygienists can help people to stop using tobacco, but success rates still are low. The report came from a joint research project conducted by the University of Arizona, the University of Mississippi (Jackson), and the Oregon Research Institute involving 2,160 adult tobacco users who were all regular patients at 68 different private dental clinics in Mississippi.

At the beginning of the study half of the people said they were seriously considering quitting in the next 30 days while 54% had tried to quit in the last year. One year after the study began, researchers asked the people if they had quit and found that the two dental office tobacco intervention groups (5As and AAR) had quit more successfully, compared with the dental offices in the service as usual group.

People in AAR or 5A's were more likely than those in usual care to report that their dentists or hygienists:

* Discussed tobacco-related oral health
* Discussed a quit date
* Talked about quitting tips
* Talked about nicotine patches, lozenges or gum
* Provided prescriptions for patches, lozenges or gum
* Gave written materials on tobacco cessation

There were few differences between the 5As and the AAR interventions. People in the AAR group were more likely to get referred to a quitline and to receive a call from the quitline. About one-third of people in the AAR group were referred to a quitline, and most of them received quitline calls. However, most people did not actually receive telephone counseling. People who did receive counseling were about 4 times as likely to stop using tobacco (smoking or smokeless tobacco) for at least nine months.