Opinions of Romanian Dental Students Toward Tobacco Use Interventions in the Dental Setting

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to assess smoking habits as well as attitudes toward smoking cessation counseling among Romanian dental students in order to build an evidence base for further undergraduate curriculum development. A 38-item self-administered questionnaire was delivered to first to sixth dental students enrolled at the University “Lucian Blaga” Sibiu. The questionnaire covered sociodemographics, smoking habits, knowledge concerning health effects, attitudes, and confidence toward smoking cessation counseling. Smoking was reported by 37 % of participants and was more prevalent among clinical (48.98 %) than preclinical (29.58 %) and basic science students (35.93 %). Students’ knowledge that tobacco affects general and oral/dental health and knowledge of dental students regarding the smoking and alcohol behavior taken during medical history varied according to academic year and smoking status, but not according to gender. Only 51.1 % of all students agreed or strongly agreed that they were adequately trained to provide tobacco cessation education. 58.6 %, respectively 52.9 %, strongly agreed that is part of their role as a dentist to assist their patients to stop smoking and to prevent patients from starting to use tobacco products, while only 35.8 % believed that smoking cessation counseling provided by a dentist can be effective in helping patients stop smoking. The main determinants of student’s attitudes toward smoking cessation counseling were academic year, clinical experience in the dental settings, and knowledge of smoking adverse effects. Dental school should offer adequate training in tobacco dependence and available continuing education in tobacco intervention in aim to encourage oral health care practitioners to have up-to-date information in aim to play their role effectively in the overall smoking cessation and prevention activities.