Do military dentists advise tobacco users to quit? The patient's perspective

This study explores whether tobacco users in the US military report having been counseled against tobacco use by a military dentist. The data come from a 26-site survey of active duty Army, Navy, Marine, and Air Force personnel conducted from April 1994 to January 1995. A prestratified, random sample was drawn. Women and minorities were oversampled. Respondents provided demographic and tobacco use data by self-administered questionnaires. Of 12 950 respondents (81% response rate), 4777 reported using some type of tobacco. Prior to analysis, the data were weighted to reflect the military population. Bivariate and logistic regression analysis were employed to determine what demographic and clinical factors are associated with having been counseled against tobacco use. Results show that among tobacco users, cigarettes (73%) are the most popular type of tobacco consumed followed by snuff (23%), pipes (12%), chewing tobacco (8%), and cigars (5%). Advisement to cease tobacco use varies across type of tobacco consumed, with snuff users (72%) most likely and pipe smokers (57%) least likely being advised to quit. Logistic regression results show that advisement to quit tobacco use varies across patient demographics but is unrelated to periodontal health status. Military dentists should be encouraged to counsel all patients who use tobacco to quit.