The impact of smoking on oral health and patient assessment of tobacco cessation support from Turkish dentists

Introduction Dentists are in a critical position to help patients quit smoking. This study analyses the effectiveness of Turkish dentists in smoking cessation as part of routine patient care. Methods An in-person cross-sectional survey on previous dental visit experiences was completed by 226 patients recruited from the Department of Periodontology, Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Turkey, from March 2019 to September 2019. The questionnaire included topics on patient’s smoking/quit characteristics, experiences on smoking cessation from their dentists, and willingness for the implementation of smoking cessation advice by dentists. Results In all, 38% of the patients were current smokers, 8% were former smokers, and 68% tried to quit previously. Smokers demonstrated consistently higher scores for plaque index, gingival index, and probing depth, than former/non-smokers (p