Tobacco smoking prevalence among a cross-section of dentists in Queensland, Australia

The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiology of tobacco smoking among dentists in Queensland, Australia. We utilized an anonymous, self-reporting questionnaire which was posted to 400 dentists during 2004. The overall response rate was 72.1%, among whom the prevalence of current smoking was estimated to be 3.9% (95%CI: 2.2-6.9), with a further 11.0% being ex-smokers (95%CI: 7.9-15.2). Smoking rates varied by age, with 6.1% of dentists aged younger than 30 years who were smokers. The lowest smoking prevalence was seen among dentists aged between 30 and 40 years (1.4%), and the highest among those aged over 60 years (7.1%). Regarding weekly work hours, the highest smoking prevalence was seen among dentists who worked between 25 and 35 hrs per week (6.8%). Ex-smokers were more likely to work less than 25 hrs per week (21.7%). Smoking rates also varied by career length, with the lowest prevalence among dentists who had worked 10 to 20 years (1.3%) and the highest rate among those who had worked over 40 years (6.7%). A similar trend was revealed for ex-smokers, with prevalence rates of 1.7% and 33.3%, respectively. Overall, our study suggests that the prevalence of smoking is rather low among Queensland dentists. As the distribution of smoking was not uniform however, future preventive measures will need to consider the individual situation of dentists who smoke, particularly those in the older age groups.