Preventive dentistry: what do Australian patients endorse and recall of smoking cessation advice by their dentists?

Abstract

Objective: To investigate patients' views regarding dentists' smoking cessation advice.

Design: Survey questionnaire.

Setting: One hundred and thirty five dental practices in Sydney Australia. Subjects Two thousand, four hundred and fifty one dental patients.

Results: One thousand, one hundred and sixty pre-consultation questionnaires were obtained (RR=80%), 302 (26%) were self-reported smokers. From these, 623 post-consultation questionnaires were returned (RR = 54%). Most patients expected dentists to be interested in their smoking status (n = 847/1160, 73%, 95% CI: 70% to 76%) and to discuss smoking with them (n = 713/1160, 61%, 95% CI: 59% to 64%), however, smokers were significantly less likely to respond as such compared with non-smokers (P < 0.001). Smokers and non-smokers equally would not change dentist even if asked about their smoking status opportunistically (59% versus 62%) (OR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.67 to 1.22). Less than one third of all smokers would try to quit if their dentist suggested they do so (n = 90/302, 30%, 95% CI: 25% to 35%). Smokers' recall of quit advice from their recent consultation was low (n = 22/124, 18%).

Conclusions: Smoking cessation advice by dentists is not self-evidently effective. These findings behove interventional research to ascertain efficacy of smoking cessation advice delivered by dentists before admonishing changes in routine clinical practice.