Interventions for tobacco cessation delivered by dental professionals

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Dental professionals are well placed to help their patients stop using tobacco products. Large proportions of the population visit the dentist regularly. In addition, the adverse effects of tobacco use on oral health provide a context that dental professionals can use to motivate a quit attempt. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness, adverse events and oral health effects of tobacco cessation interventions offered by dental professionals. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group's Specialised Register up to February 2020. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised and quasi-randomised clinical trials assessing tobacco cessation interventions conducted by dental professionals in the dental practice or community setting, with at least six months of follow-up. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: statistic. We summarised secondary outcomes narratively. MAIN RESULTS: = 83%; three studies, n = 1020; very low-certainty evidence). Only one study reported adverse events or oral health outcomes, making it difficult to draw any conclusions. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is very low-certainty evidence that quit rates increase when dental professionals offer behavioural support to promote tobacco cessation. There is moderate-certainty evidence that tobacco abstinence rates increase in cigarette smokers if dental professionals offer behavioural support combined with pharmacotherapy. Further evidence is required to be certain of the size of the benefit and whether adding pharmacological interventions is more effective than behavioural support alone. Future studies should use biochemical validation of abstinence so as to preclude the risk of detection bias. There is insufficient evidence on whether these interventions lead to adverse effects, but no reasons to suspect that these effects would be specific to interventions delivered by dental professionals. There was insufficient evidence that interventions affected oral health.