Implementing Tobacco Control in Dental Practice

Our goal is to test a dentist-hygienist team intervention to help dental patients quit smoking and determine if it can be effectively and cost-effectively implemented and sustained. Staff in half of the HMO\'s 14 large dental facilities will be trained to provide brief cessation advice and assistance and to encourage smokers to talk by phone with a tobacco counselor before they leave the dental office. Phone counselors will provide brief counseling, assess stage, and offer a full list of cessation services. The Active Referral intervention strategy is both practical and innovative, as it takes advantage of available resources; efficiently distributes intervention activities between dentists, hygienists, and counseling specialists; and could be delivered in individual, small, or large dental practices. This intervention is provided as part of routine care to all patients seen for annual dental and periodontal exams.Consented patients will receive a short phone survey shortly after the exam to assess smoking status, satisfaction with delivery of support services,and satisfaction with intervention. Consented patients in treatment and control facilities will be surveyed by phone at one year to re-assess smoking status and satisfaction with services.