DO YOU PRESENTLY OFFER YOUR PATIENTS TOBACCO-USE CESSATION SERVICES?
In August, the ADA, the ADA Health Foundation and other health care agencies gathered for the 11th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health and the Second International Conference on Smokeless/Spit Tobacco. Among other topics, the conference explored the role of health professionals in tobacco-use cessation.
JADA’s August Question of the Month asked readers if they presently offer their patients tobacco-use cessation services.
Twenty-six percent said they do. "I have always done this since starting my practice in 1979," said one respondent.
"I do as a student and plan to in my dental practice as well," said another.
A few readers said they do, but their patients are not receptive. "I offer, most defer," said one.
Seventy-four percent of respondents said they do not presently offer tobacco-use cessation services to their patients.
About one-half of these said they feel this is beyond the scope of their services. "I don’t feel qualified to administer such a program," said one reader. "It’s a physician’s area of concern."
"My experience has been that it just upsets patients who use it," said another.
Some respondents said that instead they discuss the relationship between tobacco and oral diseases with their patients. Others refer their patients to the appropriate tobacco-use cessation professionals and services. "In our small community, our local hospital and group medical practice offer these services and have staff committed to this project," said one reader.
"I believe tobacco-use cessation should be done under the care of a physician who can most properly manage the physical and psychological consequences of nicotine withdrawal," said another.
"Dentists are obligated to help patients quit, because tobacco use is the most common underlying cause of periodontal and many other oral diseases and adverse conditions—not to mention its risks to quality of life and life itself," said Dr. Robert Mecklenburg, coordinator of Tobacco and Oral Health initiatives for the Tobacco Control Research Branch of the National Cancer Institute. "Evidence is overwhelming that tobacco damages oral health and that clinical cessation methods work in dental practice."
In 1992, the ADA adopted a policy urging its members "to become fully informed about tobacco[-use] cessation intervention techniques to effectively educate their patients to overcome their addiction to tobacco. This information should include education on primary prevention of tobacco use." This and other ADA policies and recommendations regarding tobacco use can be found on ADA.org at "www.ada.org/prac/position/ps-tobac.html". ADA members can obtain a copy from the ADA Council on Access, Prevention and Interprofessional Relations, or CAPIR, by calling the toll-free number on the back of their membership cards and asking for Ext. 2860.
In August JADA, CAPIR provided lists of resources dental professionals can call on to help them provide tobacco-use cessation to their patients.1 These lists can be found on ADA.org at "www.ada.org/adapco/jada/cover/0008/ada/ja_cur_cv.html".
