How-to-do-it quit-smoking strategies for the dental office team: an eight-step program

Dental personnel have an ethical responsibility to inform their patients about the hazards of tobacco use. Because oral health team members generally see their patients on a frequent and recurring basis, these treatment providers have unparalleled opportunities to educate and help those who smoke to adopt a smokefree lifestyle. Dental practitioners can readily incorporate smoking cessation efforts into their routine dental practices by using an eight-phase smoking intervention program. The overall focus of this program is to: "Ask" patients about smoking or smokeless tobacco usage; "Advise" tobacco-using patients to quit; "Assist" interested patients in quitting; and "Arrange" for supportive follow-up. By providing these services, dental professionals can do their part to help create a smokefree America by the year 2000.