Help your patients quit tobacco

Tobacco use, smoking, smokeless tobacco, compressed dissolvable tobacco, cigars, pipes and water pipes, and electronic cigarettes, is a leading cause of preventable illness and death. The adverse oral effects of tobacco use include gingival recession, impaired healing, oral cancer, mucosal lesions, periodontal disease, and tooth staining.

The most effective clinical modalities for treating tobacco use and dependence are counseling, medication, and both in combination. We know that dental practices can provide an effective setting for recognition (finding patients that smoke and offering information about quitting), recommending that patients quit, assess willingness to quit, help with counseling and pharmacotherapy., and arrange for follow-up contact.

Cognitive behavioral therapy has been found to improve rates of cessation as do other nonpharmacological strategies (hypnosis and acupuncture). Pharmacological interventions, nicotine replacement therapy, as well as other medications (bupropion, varenicline, inhalers) have been found to be effective.

To get started with a program, dental offices will want to include a question about tobacco use as part of their medical/dental history to allow identification of tobacco users and to assess a willingness to quit. And Elevance Health Care can help through the Quitting Tobacco Roadmap Program available to Elevance Health Care medical members. Other resources can be found at the websites of the American Dental Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.