WCTOH

Global Health

Background:
Tobacco smoking is a major risk factor for many oral cavity disorders, amongst which periodontal disease and oral cancer - the most frequent conditions in current dentistry practice. Oral pathology clinics lack their own smoking cessation services, and a personalized approach of tobacco consumers addressing dentistry settings would improve their oral health.
Aim: To design a personalized smoke-free approach in a dentistry department and to preliminary evaluate the effectiveness of smoking cessation counseling in a pilot group of smokers with oral cancer.

Methods:
Screening for oral health and smoking status of 270 patients admitted in an oral pathology university department for periodontal disease and oral malignancies. All patients answered a personalized oral health and tobacco use questionnaire. 59 smokers with oral cancers underwent a specially designed 3 sessions smoking cessation counseling program (personalized enrollment questionnaire, brief advice and counseling) with initial and in 8 weeks follow-up clinical evaluation of both smoking and oral status

Results:
Periodontal disease was more frequent in smokers (60%) with poor oral hygiene and diet. Majority of smokers with oral cancers were men, age average 57.2 (SD: 4.6) and 49.2 smoked > 20 cigs/day. Most frequently, oral malignancy affected the lips and the jowl. All 59 smokers with oral cancers answered the personalized questionnaire and attended the brief advice session, whilst 46 (78%) agreed to try to quit smoking, with a 52.5% abstinence rate at 8 weeks follow up and a significant oral status improvement identified in all quitters.

Conclusions:
There is a great need to design a personalized smoke-free approach for dental patients, by routinely adding screening and treatment of tobacco use to overall oral health evaluation. Smoking cessation proved beneficial in the oral cancers pilot group.