Attitudes of students toward tobacco cessation interventions in dental practice

Some studies have indicated that although dentists have positive attitudes towards helping their patient stop using tobacco, few are actively involved in this area. Results from those studies are rather conflicting. Objectives: to investigate dental student's views regarding the role of dental health professionals in tobacco cessation among dental patients. Methods: A twenty-six-item written questionnaire was used for survey of the 125 fifth-year dental students at Byelorussian State Medical University during November 2004. Using a 5-point Likert scale ("agree a lot" to "disagree a lot") students were asked to respond to the statements about the role of dentists in tobacco cessation, including the use of the five A's model (ask, advise, assess, assist and arrange). Results: Response rate was 98 percent. Respondents were 33 percent male, 67 percent female. Mean age was 22.5 +/- 1.6 (SD) years. The majority of dental students thought that dentists should ask their patients about smoking (n=118/123, 96%, 95% CI 91% to 99%), advise them to quit (n=103/123, 84%, 95% CI 76% to 90%), evaluate the patient's readiness to quit (n=111/123, 90%, 95% CI 84% to 95%). Whereas 78,9+/- 3,7 % (SE) respondents agreed to offer assistance their patients in cessation, only 29,3+/-4,1% (SE) agreed that it was within the scope of dental practice to follow up on the patient's cessation efforts (t=9,09, p<0,01). At the same time 72% thought that dentists would discuss specific strategies for stopping (n=89/123, 95% CI 64% to 80%). Most of respondents (n=105/123, 85%, 95% CI 78% to 91%) were interested in receiving tobacco cessation training. Conclusions: Most fifth-year dental students have positive attitude to being involved in smoking cessation interventions. They agreed to use five A's model in dental practice, excluding the component ‘arrange'. More training may encourage dental students to be more proactive.