USING THE HYGIENE VISIT TO DELIVER A TOBACCO CESSATION PROGRAM - RESULTS OF A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL-TRIAL

To examine the effectiveness of advising patients who use tobacco to q uit, the authors conducted a randomized clinical trial to test a brief office-based intervention with all tobacco users in 75 fee-for-servic e dental practices in Oregon. The authors found that the dental hygien ist-delivered intervention was effective in getting smokeless tobacco users to quit at three and 12 months and to sustain abstinence at both three and 12 months. They found that the program was not effective fo r cigarette smokers. The authors discuss the public health implication s of program dissemination and widespread program adoption.