Tobacco cessation practices of senior dental students in Iran

Objective: Tobacco use is prevalent in Iran, especially among men. The aim was to assess cessation practices and identify perceived barriers to delivery of tobacco cessation services by Iranian senior dental students. Design: Descriptive, cross-sectional study. Setting: Iran, Schools of Dentistry, 2009-2010. Participants: 370 (response rate 82%) officially registered senior dental students selected through stratified random sampling. Intervention: Students at 11 dental schools throughout the country completed the survey. Main outcome measure: Students' practice of the US Clinical Practice Guideline 5 As (ask, advise, assess, assist, arrange); interest in training; intention and barriers addressing tobacco use in dental settings. Results and Conclusions: Respondents were primarily female (67.8%). The students were far more likely to be actively involved in asking, advising and assessing patients to quit than in assisting and arranging. Most respondents (68.5%) agreed that it is within the scope of dental practice to help smokers quit. The most important barriers to providing cessation services included perceived patient resistance (44%) and lack of a supportive organisation (36%). This was the first assessment of approaches to tobacco users by dental students in Iran. Although there clearly is room for improvement, the interest of the students toward tobacco cessation is encouraging.