AU - George, Benley
AU - Mulamoottil, Vinod
AU - Cherian, Sunu
AU - John, Jacob
AU - Mathew, T
AU - Sebastian, Shibu
TI - Awareness on smoking cessation counseling among dentists in Kerala, India
PT - ORIG
DP - 2015 Jul 1
TA - Journal of Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry
PG - 254-258
VI - 13
IP - 3
4099- https://journals.lww.com/aphd/pages/default.aspx/article.asp?issn=2319-5932;year=2015;volume=13;issue=3;spage=254;epage=258;aulast=George;type=0
4100- https://journals.lww.com/aphd/pages/default.aspx/article.asp?issn=2319-5932;year=2015;volume=13;issue=3;spage=254;epage=258;aulast=George
AB - Introduction: Although dentists are ideally placed to deliver smoking cessation advice and assistance to their patients, smoking cessation interventions are not often incorporated as a routine part of dental care. Aim: To assess the awareness on smoking cessation counseling among dental practitioners in Kerala. Materials and Methods: A pretested questionnaire was used for the study. Four hundred and sixteen registered dentists practicing all over Kerala participated in the survey. Results: Dentists are willing to ask and advise patients about smoking, but are less inclined to assist patients to quit or arrange follow-up. Dentists are more likely to implement one-off, opportunistic interventions rather than take a systematic preventive approach. Dentists are interested in attending further education and say they require training to be relevant to the context of their day-to-day running of the dental practice. Conclusions: Training should aim to legitimize the dentist's role in smoking cessation and provide strategies and resources so that dentists can practice interventions as part of their day-to-day work.