Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice for Tobacco Control among Dental Professionals in the City of Delhi

Abstract

To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of dental practitioners in Delhi concerning use of tobacco in their patients, a self-administered questionnaire was administered to conveniently selected 100 subjects consisted of students, interns, institutional, and private dental practitioners. Although knowledge about harmful effects of tobacco was high but only some advocate tobacco cessation practices actively, maintain records on tobacco use and follow-up on advice to patients to quit. However, all felt that there is a need to include tobacco cessation in their daily practice. Lack of formal training in tobacco prevention and cessation, lack of time, lack of resources and skills, not optimistic about the effectiveness of their counseling, and thought that it was not their role are most often cited to explain the reluctance of dentists and hygienists to provide tobacco cessation interventions. This is considered a lost opportunity for them which can be better utilized if they are trained for this important task.

Keywords: Dental, tobacco control, knowledge, attitude, practices