Awareness on smoking cessation counseling among dentists in Kerala, India

• Main Authors: Benley George (Author), Vinod Mathew Mulamoottil (Author), Sunu Alice Cherian (Author), Jacob John (Author), T Aby Mathew (Author), Shibu Thomas Sebastian (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications, 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 2319-5932; 2350-0484; 10.4103/2319-5932.165245
• Keywords: Counseling; dentist; smoking; tobacco products; Dentistry; RK1-715
• Source: Journal of Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry, Vol 13, Iss 3, Pp 254-258 (2015)

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.