South African Smokers' Quitting-Behaviour is Associated With Receiving Dentist's Advice

Objectives: Only limited information is available from population surveys (real-world evidence), particularly in low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), on the benefits of dentist’s advice in motivating quitting behaviours. This study therefore sought to determine the association between reporting receiving dentists’ advice within a 12-month period and reporting quit attempts and intention to quit among South African smokers.
Methods: The study involved a nationally representative sample of South African tobacco smokers older than 15 years (n=1,277), who participated in two waves (2017 and 2018 waves) of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (pooled n=5,695) that featured questions on self-reported oral health, smoking (i.e. daily or non-daily smoking of own-rolled or Factory-made cigarettes or Waterpipe), use of smokeless tobacco (SLT) and e-cigarettes. The sociodemographic data obtained included participants’ age, sex, race/ethnicity and educational level. Also obtained was information on any advice received from a health professional or a dentist, past quit attempts within the last 12months and, intention to quit smoking within 6months. Data analysis included Chi-square statistics and multivariable-adjusted logistic regression analysis.
Results: Of the study population, 17.8% (95%CI=16.1-19.6) reported poor oral health, which was highest among current smokers (32,6%; n=413), SLT users (35,4%; n=88), e-cigarette users (29.2%; n=28) and those least educated (21.2%). Overall, 4.1% (95%CI=2.7-6.0) of smokers reported receiving advice to quit smoking from a dentist (with or without additional advice of others), while 15.7% reported receiving advice only from other health professionals. In controlled analysis, compared to not receive any health professional’s advice, having received a dentist’s advice (OR=3.71; 95%CI=1.47-9.41) or advice from other health professionals only (OR=2.66; 95%CI=1.43-4.97) was associated with significantly higher odds of making at least a quit attempt.
Conclusions: Integrating smoking cessation intervention in dental practice settings should be a priority public health intervention for promoting oral and general health equity in South Africa and similar LMICs.