Knowledge, attitude and practices of Indian dental surgeons towards tobacco control: advances towards prevention.
OBJECTIVE
We assessed the knowledge, attitude and practices of dental surgeons in the city of Bangalore, Karnataka, concerning use of tobacco in their patients. A self-administered questionnaire was administered to all dental surgeons prior to a sensitization program on nicotine dependence.


RESULTS
The dental surgeons who responded (n=100) reported a need for increasing sensitization on the issue of tobacco especially among health professionals. Only 33% knew that nicotine is the most addictive drug and knowledge was poor about pharmacological as well as non pharmacological methods of treatment of nicotine dependence. Only 52% asked all their patients about tobacco use. However, almost all dental surgeons agreed that there should be a ban on public use of tobacco.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study call for sensitizing health professionals on a larger scale on the issue of tobacco use and its treatment.
NIMHANS, Bangalore, India. saddichha@gmail.com
Sahoo
S
Saddichha
Dorothy P
DP
Rekha
Basanagouda K
BK
Patil
Pratima
P
Murthy
Vivek
V
Benegal
Mohan K
MK
Isaac
D000328:Adult; D003376:Counseling; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013515:Surgery, Oral / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D020340:Tobacco Use Cessation; D014030:Tobacco, Smokeless / Q000009:adverse effects*