The Effect of Brief Tobacco Cessation Counseling in Veterans During Dental/Medical Visits

ABSTRACT

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, resulting in approximately $170 billion in medical care annually, and causes over 480,000 deaths per year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Smokers are more likely to develop periodontal disease and subsequently suffer from tooth loss (Chambrone et al., 2013). Approximately 20% of veterans use tobacco products (U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs, 2012), and additional resources are needed to reduce the deleterious impact of tobacco use concerning veterans’ well-being. The aim of the current study was to examine the effect of brief structured counseling and usual care on tobacco cessation. A quality improvement project was conducted in which participants received brief structured opportunistic counseling or usual care through a Veterans Affairs Medical Center dental clinic, and archival data and quality improvement information was analyzed (n = 67). Participants who received brief structured opportunistic counseling were more likely to seek tobacco cessation resources than those who received usual care (p < .001). Providing patients with brief structured tobacco cessation interventions within a dental clinic may encourage patients to consider quitting or seeking additional tobacco cessation resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Tobacco cessation
• counseling
• dental
• brief structured opportunistic counseling
• usual care
• veterans
• medical center
• mental health

Acknowledgments

We thank staff of the Office of Quality Management, Salem VA Medical Center for assistance with the collection of data. Special thanks to Ms. Evangeline Taylor who assisted with the data collection and performing quality review. Dr. Farooqi performed intervention and conceived the study.  Drs. Pimble, Leibow, and Martin contributed in the study design.  Drs. Pimble and Leibow collected and interpreted the data. All contributed and approved the final version of the manuscript/poster. This material is the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the Salem VA Medical Center, Salem, VA 24153.