The impact of smoking on oral health and patient assessment of tobacco cessation support from Turkish dentists

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Dentists are in a critical position to help patients quit smoking. This study analyses the effectiveness of Turkish dentists in smoking cessation as part of routine patient care. METHODS An in-person cross-sectional survey on previous dental visit experiences was completed by 226 patients recruited from the Department of Periodontology, Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Turkey, from March 2019 to September 2019. The questionnaire included topics on patient’s smoking/quit characteristics, experiences on smoking cessation from their dentists, and willingness for the implementation of smoking cessation advice by dentists. RESULTS In all, 38% of the patients were current smokers, 8% were former smokers, and 68% tried to quit previously. Smokers demonstrated consistently higher scores for plaque index, gingival index, and probing depth, than former/non-smokers (p<0.05). Patients’ knowledge of adverse effects was high, and the patients presented a positive attitude toward receiving cessation activities from dentists (86.7%). A total of 89% responded positively to be asked about their smoking behavior. However, the dentists’ approach for cessation discussions did not go any further than listing the harmful effects. Only 32% of the patients were informed about side effects of smoking and one-third were encouraged to quit. In general, offering smoking cessation advice was relatively infrequent, and the majority of patients tried to quit smoking by themselves (76%) without using any nicotine replacement product (84%). CONCLUSIONS Smoking leads to oral health problems. Dentists in Turkey may ask their patients’ about their smoking habits but less frequently offer practical help to quit.

Smoking Cessation on Periodontal and Peri-Implant Health Status: A Systematic Review

“…Subsequently, seven full-texts were screened which did not require contacting the authors. Based on eligibility criteria, seven studies [ 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 ] were finally included in the present systematic review, as illustrated in Figure 1 .…”

“…Accordingly, Costa et al [ 60 ] and Beklen et al [ 64 ] reported lower periodontal probing depth values and a lower percentage of sites with a PD ≥ 5 mm in ex-smokers and non-smokers compared to current smokers. No differences in PD values were in anyway observed by Karaaslan et al and Liu et al [ 58 , 63 ] in relation to a smoking habit or smoking cessation.…”

“…In detail, a significantly lower mean number of sites with BOP+ was described in smokers vs. ex-smokers and non-smokers [ 60 , 61 ], likely due to the vasoconstriction observable within gingiva and, conceivably, peri-implant mucosa, secondary to both traditional and Heat-Not-Burn tobacco products [ 32 , 62 , 71 ]. Furthermore, GI values were reported to be higher in ex-smokers compared to current smokers [ 58 , 63 , 64 ].…”

“…Beklen et al [ 60 ] and Costa et al [ 64 ] described higher PI values in smokers compared to ex-smokers and non-smokers. This finding, combined with the hypothesis that nicotine may favor the proliferation of A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. gingivalis which are suspected periodontal pathogens species, may support the wider periodontal destruction observed in smokers.…”

The impact of smoking on periodontal status and dental caries

“…In the previous work of our group, we found that individuals know the importance of oral health and the necessity of hygiene. On the other hand, even though the patients know that smoking would damage their oral health, they continue to smoke 26 . Now we have a much clearer picture of smokers, in which irregular brushing is more common for ex-smokers and social smokers.…”