Tobacco Cessation Program for LSU School of Dentistry

Susan Parker^*

Department of Comprehensive Dentistry at Louisiana Health Sciences Center’s School of Dentistry, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Susan Parker
Department of Comprehensive Dentistry at
Louisiana Health Sciences Center’s School of Dentistry
New Orleans, LA, 70119, USA
Tel: 504-941-8382
Fax: 504-941-8218
E-mail: spark2@lsuhsc.edu

Received Date: February 25, 2014; Accepted Date: March 17, 2014; Published Date: March 22, 2014

Citation: Parker S (2014) Tobacco Cessation Program for LSU School of Dentistry. J Oral Hyg Health 2:124. doi: 10.4172/2332-0702.1000124

Copyright: © 2014 Parker S. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Visit for more related articles at Journal of Oral Hygiene & Health

Abstract

For the LSU School of Dentistry, Dr. Jeevan Yenuganti, and an oral medicine doctor, and I developed a tobacco cessation program to be incorporated into the four year curriculum for our students. It is based on the most recent knowledge and components of effective tobacco cessation programs. Our goal is to provide an avenue for help for smokers who have the desire to quit and to educate our dental students in the implementation of a tobacco cessation program for the dental office or healthcare facility.

Entry Level Skills

1^st year dental student’s introduction in Preventive Dentistry

Text

Clinician’s Guide Tobacco Cessation, Abdel Rahim Mohammad, 2006, BC Decker Inc.

Introduction

Purpose: The LSU School of Dentistry will serve as the ideal setting for an advocacy program of tobacco cessation since dental students provide comprehensive patient dental care on a daily basis and have ready access to ‘tobacco dependent’ individuals who seek dental treatment.

Rationale: Tobacco use in Louisiana is a major health concern. Louisiana, a part of the ‘West South Central Division along with Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma is in the top five for smoking prevalence according to the current population surveys (1998-1999) and (2006-2007). Lung, bladder, and kidney cancers, especially in women, are on the rise in Louisiana according to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute December 2008. There is desperate need for access and availability of a comprehensive model involving screening, community based education, professional networking and management of ‘tobacco dependent’ individuals in Louisiana who wish to stop smoking. Currently, seventeen dental and dental hygiene school smoking cessation programs are successfully integrated into the curriculum. Course hours dedicated range from 2-10 hours.

Competencies/Educational Objectives

The dental student upon completion of the fourth year will have had a series of Lectures that will provide the students with knowledge of the prevalence and the systemic and local effects of smoking and smokeless tobacco use.

• Smoking as a major risk factor for periodontal disease

• The effects of tobacco use on treatment results

• Nicotine Addiction

• Benefits of tobacco-free lifestyle

• Stages of change

• Clinical interventions

• Use of nicotine and non-nicotine pharmacologic therapy

• The tobacco industry influence

• The role of health care providers in policy and media advocacy

In order to get credit: a Tobacco Use Assessment Form and the filled out Brief Intervention for a patient of choice from each senior dental student will be brought to Ms. Parker in Room 5361 where the intervention will be discussed along with any perceived necessary follow-up. This is to be done by student before graduation.

Educational Sessions

• 1^st year Introduction to Preventive Dentistry, Dr. Garbee

• 2^nd year Professional Development II-Communication Techniques, Dr. Bates

• 3^rd year Clinical use of the program using Axium for identification and documentation of patient smokers active in the system and the knowledge of the 5 A’s of intervention (ask, advise, assess, assist and arrange) for the tobacco dependent individual who want to stop

• 4^th year Continuation in clinical intervention and presentation of at least one case- Ms. Susan Parker, possible guest speakers, smokers who have quit, etc.

Evaluation

Pass/Fail and bonus points for additional clinical interventions

Attendance

Mandatory

Tobacco Cessation Initiative-Strategies for the Dental Student

Director: Susan S. Parker, RDH, MBA, MEd

Minor Unit: Comprehensive Dentistry

Designation: Clinical Science Selective

Type: Required

Starting year: Dent year 1

Ending year: Dent year 4

Total clock hours: 10

Lecture: 6

Lab: 4

Examination: 1

--