Study Finds Dentists Uniquely Positioned to Help Smokers Quit

Study Finds Dentists Uniquely Positioned to Help Smokers Quit

Smokers whose dentists offer intervention strategies like nicotine patches or lozenges are far more likely to quit according to a report published in the May issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

In the largest study of its kind, University of Arizona researchers have proven the effectiveness of quit-tobacco interventions in public dental care settings serving low-income patients. People who received an intervention – advice and assistance including nicotine patches or lozenges – were two to three times more likely to have quit smoking 7.5 months afterward than participants who received the usual care, the journal explained.

“The dental setting is different from a medical clinic in that physicians can’t pull out a lung and show the patient the damage caused by smoking. The oral health team has a unique opportunity to show the immediate effects of smoking or tobacco use to their patients,” said lead researcher Judith Gordon, an associate professor in the University of Arizona’s department of family and community medicine.

What Gordon found is that dentists and hygienists are able to simply able to had patients a mirror and show them exactly how smoking is impacting their oral health. Once patients see the damage, the dental staff can explain the long-term risk of cancers of the mouth and throat.

Another reason researchers believe the trained dental clinics were so successful in encouraging patients to quit is that dentists usually see their patients more often than doctors do.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute, the study involved 14 federally funded community health center dental clinics in Mississippi, New York and Oregon that serve racially/ethnically diverse patients.

In randomly selected clinics, staff members were trained to provide interventions as recommended by the U.S. Public Health Service. The training included a 3-hour, in-service workshop on integrating and delivering a brief, tailored tobacco intervention including self-help materials, referral to a tobacco quit line, as well as training on the proper use of nicotine replacement therapy.