Ohio Dental Provider Training on Tobacco Cessation Counseling
Welcome to the Ohio Dental Provider Training on Tobacco Cessation Counseling project training modules.
As of January 1, 2018, the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) began reimbursing participating dentists for providing tobacco cessation services to their Medicaid patients.
Because of the oral health implications of tobacco use, dental practices provide a unique setting for tobacco cessation services. Ohio dentists providing care to recipients of Medicaid services have the opportunity to play a role in promoting healthy lifestyles by routinely incorporating tobacco cessation counseling and referral services into their practices. Dental professionals can help smokers quit by consistently identifying patients who smoke, advising them to quit, and offering them information about cessation treatment.
The resources on this website, including CE-eligible video tutorials, are intended to enhance the dental professional’s knowledge, confidence, and skill in delivering brief counseling and referral services to their patients who use tobacco products.
Site Statistics (as of April 2020)
Background
Tobacco dependency is a chronic condition that requires repeated interventions by healthcare providers and multiple attempts by patients to stop.
- Tobacco use is one of the leading causes of preventable illness in the U.S.
- Cigarette smoking accounts for approximately one-third of all cancer deaths.
- Smoking substantially increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, heart attack, vascular disease, and aneurysm.
- Use of tobacco-containing products increases the risk of oral cancer.
- Cigarette smoking leads to periodontal disease and mucosal lesions.
- Smokeless tobacco use also causes gingival keratosis, alveolar bone damage, coronal or root-surface dental caries due to sugars added to the product, and tooth loss.
- Alternative tobacco products (i.e. vaping) contain nicotine which is addictive.
The most effective way to quit smoking is through a combination of medication and counseling; even brief counseling by healthcare providers is one of the most cost-effective methods to reduce smoking.