Recorded presentation

Harold S. Goodman, DMD, MPH¹, Clemencia M. Vargas, DDS, PhD¹, Jonathan David Shenkin, DDS, MPH², Alice Horowitz, PhD, MPH³, and Julie Lin, MS, DDS⁴. (1) Department of Health Promotion and Policy, Rm 3-E-10, University of Maryland Dental School, 666 W. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, 410-706-7970, hsg001@dental.umaryland.edu, (2) Boston University, 792 Stillwater Ave, Bangor, ME 04402, (3) National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, 45 Center Drive, Building 45, Room 4AS-37A, Bethesda, MD 20817, (4) Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, 28 West 26th Street Apt 4A, New York City, NY 10010

Maryland has the eighth highest oral cancer mortality rate in the US, most of which is attributable to high tobacco use by children and adults. Children are of special concern in Maryland because 25% smoke a half pack of cigarettes or more a day by the 12th grade. Considering that 60% of Maryland adolescents tried to quit smoking in the past year, dental practitioners could play an important role in assisting them in this effort. The purpose of this study was to ascertain attitudes of Maryland general and pediatric dentists in tobacco prevention and cessation for their pediatric patients. A questionnaire was mailed to all active Maryland general and pediatric dentists (n=3,189 dentists). The questionnaire used a Likert scale to ascertain dentists’ perceived role, effectiveness, and efficacy in tobacco prevention and cessation. The response rate was 72%. Approximately 70% of dentists believe tobacco counseling can effectively prevent or stop tobacco use. While nearly 70% of dentists perceive a role in preventing and stopping tobacco use, almost 50% have little or no confidence in their ability to fulfill this role. Most dentists (77%) have no formal training in tobacco prevention and cessation. Of those with training, 43% last took a course in tobacco prevention over 5 years ago. These results attest to the need for more training of dentists in tobacco prevention and to further assessment of effective training interventions. This study was funded by the University of Maryland, Maryland Statewide Health Network through the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Funds.

Learning Objectives:

• Articulate the extent of general and pediatric dentists’ perceived role in tobacco prevention and cessation for their pediatric patients.
• Describe the magnitude of general and pediatric dentists’ perceived ability to fulfill their role in preventing and/or stopping tobacco use in their pediatric patients.
• Assess the level of training that dentists have received in counseling their patients in tobacco prevention and cessation.

Keywords: Tobacco, Oral Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation