SMOKING AND ORAL HEALTH - A POPULATION SURVEY IN FINLAND

Objectives: A survey was conducted to study smokers' oral health behav iors and attitudes, and to determine if smokers were advised by their dentists to quit smoking. Methods: A random sample of 1,200 adults 15 to 64 years of age living in the province of North Karelia, Finland, w as selected in each of two study years (1990 and 1991) and surveyed us ing a mail questionnaire. The 102-item questionnaire solicited informa tion on smoking status, oral health behaviors, missing teeth, percepti ons of tobacco's harmful effects on oral health, smoking status and qu itting, and advice on smoking cessation provided by dentists. Variatio ns in behaviors and opinions according to smoking status were analyzed . Results: Nonsmokers reported more frequent healthy oral health behav iors than did daily smokers, with the exception that no difference in toothbrushing frequencies existed among women. Daily smoking was assoc iated with increased use of sugar in tea or coffee, and with more freq uent alcohol consumption. Daily smoking was correlated with the number of missing teeth in bivariate analyses, but not in multivariate analy ses. Fewer daily smokers than nonsmokers considered smoking to have ha rmful effects on oral health. The majority of daily smokers, however, wanted to quit. Eight percent of daily smokers reported that they had been advised by their dentist to quit. Conclusions: Dentists need to p rovide patients with counseling on tobacco use because of the desire o f many smokers to quit Counseling of smokers by the oral health team r equires special attention and skills, because smokers' health behavior s and attitudes appear to be less favorable to oral health compared to nonsmokers.