Experienced barriers and facilitators for integrating smoking cessation advice and support into daily dental practice. A short report

Abstract

In a controlled study, primary care dental professionals in the intervention group were encouraged to provide smoking cessation advice and support for all smoking patients with the help of a stage-based motivational protocol. The barriers and facilitators reported by the dental professionals on two occasions for their efforts to incorporate smoking cessation advice and counselling into daily patient care are summarised here. Lack of practice time and anticipated resistance on the part of the patient were cited as barriers by over 50% of the dental professionals in the first interviews. Periodontal treatment and the presence of smoking-related diseases were mentioned as the most important stimuli. The experience-based interviews revealed key points for the implementation of smoking cessation advice and support in daily dental care. Education on the associations between smoking and oral health, vocational training on motivational interviewing and the offering of structured advice protocols were identified as promising components for an implementation strategy to promote the involvement of dental professionals in the primary and secondary prevention of tobacco addiction.