Dental Practitioners and Smoking Cessation in Ireland

INTRODUCTION As the Irish government works towards their stated goal of a 'tobacco free society' in 2025, treatment offered to smokers must be expanded and improved. As such, it is inadequate to confine smoking cessation to a limited group of specialists and rather, it should be widely embraced by all health care professionals. In that regard, dentists could play a significant and crucial role. PURPOSE To examine smoking prevalence, training in smoking cessation treatment, and awareness of smoking cessation services available to smokers in Ireland among dentists practicing in Ireland. METHODS We used an internet based, cross-sectional online survey to measure beliefs and behaviours among 289 dentists in Ireland in 2013. The instrument included items on personal tobacco use, training, and awareness of smoking cessation treatments and services. Descriptive statistics were generated for all variables and chi-squared tests examined potential gender differences in providing smoking cessation treatment. RESULTS Nine percent of dentists were current smokers, 7% reported receiving formal training in smoking cessation, and 5.6% refer their patients to specialist cessation services. Over 65% of dentists surveyed felt they did not have adequate training in smoking cessation. Female dentists were significantly more likely to give advice than male dentists (P < 0.005) and more likely to record the smoking status of their patients than male dentists (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of smoking among dentists at 9% is well below the national rate of 19.5%. There is a large discrepancy between the number of dentists who feel they should provide advice and those who actually do. Overall, dentists feel they lack adequate training, time and resources to provide smoking cessation services and most were not aware of existing referral pathways to specialist smoking cessation services.