Attitudes, practices, and perceived barriers to providing smoking cessation advice to patients among dentists in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objectives: To assess dentists' attitudes, practices, and perceived barriers to delivering smoking cessation advice in public dental clinics in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in October 2018 among 63 dentists working in four public dental clinics selected using convenience sampling. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 27. Continuous variables were summarized as means and standard deviations (mean ± SD), while categorical variables were presented as frequencies and percentages. Associations between independent variables (sociodemographic characteristics, attitude, and barriers) and the dependent variable (practice of smoking cessation advice) were examined using the chi-square test. Statistical significance was set at a p-value < 0.05.

Results: Most dentists (95.3%) believed that they should advise patients on smoking cessation, and 84.1% agreed that such advice increases patients' chances of quitting. Furthermore, 93.7% regarded motivating patients to stop smoking as part of their professional responsibility. While more than half of the dentists (55.5%) routinely inquired about patients' smoking status, fewer than half (42.9%) reported actively advising patients to quit smoking. The most frequently reported barriers to providing smoking cessation advice were lack of patient motivation (73.0%), time constraints (69.8%), and insufficient knowledge (52.2%). Dentists with higher attitude scores tended to demonstrate more desirable practices; however, this association did not reach statistical significance (χ² test, p = 0.053).

Conclusions: Although dentists demonstrated positive attitudes towards providing smoking cessation advice, the level of implementation in clinical practice remained suboptimal. The principal barriers identified were lack of patient motivation, time constraints, and insufficient knowledge. Continued professional education programs focusing on smoking cessation counselling for dentists are recommended.