Tobacco-Use Cessation Programs and Policies at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Dentistry

Date
The deleterious effects of tobacco use on general health and oral health are well documented. While one-third of Manitobans are current smokers, up to 79% report they want to quit. Counselling by health care professionals can help achieve quit rates of 15-20%. Yet many health professionals do not provide tobacco-use cessation counselling because they feel they are not trained to do so. In 1998, the faculty of dentistry of the University of Manitoba implemented a number of tobacco-use cessation interventions in its undergraduate curricula and general teaching clinic. The faculty has also successfully obtained the inclusion of a dental fee code for tobacco-use cessation services in the provincial fee guide and has received approval to allow dentists who have completed an approved course in tobacco-use cessation training to prescribe bupropion HCl (Zyban), in consultation with a patient’s physician, to aid smoking cessation.

MeSH Key Words: curriculum; schools, dental; tobacco use cessation