Attitudes, Practices and Perceived Barriers in Smoking Cessation among Dentists of Udaipur City, Rajasthan, India

BACKGROUND Tobacco is one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality. Tobacco toll in India has one-fifth of all worldwide death attributed to tobacco. There are 700000 deaths per year due to smoking and 800000-900000 per year to all forms of tobacco use of exposure in India. The role of dentist in supporting their patients to quit smoking has been recognized. The present study was conducted to know the attitudes, practices and barriers in tobacco cessation among dentists of Udaipur city (Rajasthan, India). METHODS A pretested, close-ended, self-administered, coded questionnaire was distributed among all the 262 dental health practitioners and the teaching staff. Out of 262 questionnaires distributed among the dentist, 151 dentists filled out and returned the questionnaire. FINDINGS The majority of the dentists (98.7%) agreed that it was their responsibility to provide smoking cessation counseling. 54.3% of dentists agreed that such discussions were too time consuming. 37.1% thought they lacked knowledge regarding this subject. 35.8% feared to an extent about patient leaving their clinic if counseled much. CONCLUSION In general, the dentists had a favorable attitude in tobacco cessation counseling for the patients; however, the lack of time and knowledge and to an extent, a fear that the patients would leave their clinic, was the main identified barriers.