Attitudes of dental professionals toward tobacco use

The habit of tobacco consumption has plagued all nations from time immemorial. While tobacco use is decreasing in many developed countries, it is increasing in developing countries like India. Health care professionals have a key role to play to motivate and advise tobacco users to quit.

The aim was to assess the attitudes and practice of dental professionals in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai toward tobacco cessation and the potential barriers faced.

Questionnaire-based survey was conducted with 500 dental surgeons in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. The questionnaire contained close-ended questions and assessed the smoking status of the professional, whether they impart tobacco cessation advice to their patients, whether the professional is trained for basic intervention, whether they would be eager to undergo training and also the potential barriers encountered by the professional.

The SPSS version 17 was used. Frequencies and percentages were used to determine distributions of the responses for each of the variables. Chi-square test was used for analysis.

It was observed that the majority of dental clinicians do not use tobacco and although 93% believed that it is the role of the dental professional to offer advice, 21% do not. Potential barriers reported were: Little chance of success, lack of training, lack of time, lack of remuneration, and the possibility of losing patients.

Dental professionals must expand their horizon and armamentarium to tobacco intervention strategies inclusive of their regular preventive and therapeutic treatment modalities. Furthermore, the dental institutions (schools) should include tobacco intervention in the curriculum, but it should not be just theoretical knowledge rather it must have a practical component.