Dental students' attitudes toward smoking cessation guidelines

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Dental Education
• Tobacco Control

Background:

• Dentists play a vital role in patient smoking cessation.
• Understanding dental students' attitudes and practices is key to improving tobacco cessation services in dental settings.
• Barriers to providing these services need identification for effective intervention planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore smoking cessation attitudes and practices among dental students.
• To identify barriers encountered by dental students in providing smoking cessation services.
• To inform the development of a didactic program for smoking cessation training in dental education.

Main Methods:

• A self-report survey was administered to 244 fourth-year dental students at New York University College of Dentistry.
• The survey assessed attitudes towards tobacco-use counseling, adherence to National Cancer Institute guidelines, demographics, tobacco use history, and perceived preparedness.
• A twenty-nine-item measure evaluated attitudes and adherence to cessation guidelines.

Main Results:

• Students generally supported tobacco prevention but perceived significant barriers to service provision.
• Routine smoking cessation counseling was inconsistent: 69% asked about smoking, 58% advised cessation, 24% offered assistance, and 22% provided follow-up.
• Increased counseling provision correlated with formal cessation training, lack of perceived time barriers, and positive beliefs about dentists' role in cessation.

Conclusions:

• Dental students exhibit a high receptivity to incorporating smoking cessation interventions.
• There is a critical need to integrate comprehensive cessation counseling training into the dental curriculum.
• Addressing perceived barriers and enhancing training can improve dental professionals' effectiveness in promoting smoking cessation.