Section 1 - Introduction

This section covers:

Welcome

NES Dentistry has worked collaboratively with ASH Scotland, Health Scotland and Pharmacy within NES, to create a dental resource for use by the dental team to raise awareness of the importance of this issue.

The NES resource comprises two parts;

Part 1: 'Raising the issue of smoking' package which was developed by NHS Health Scotland and adapted for the dental profession. This takes about 60 - 90 minutes to complete.

Part 2: This section looks at the effect that tobacco has on the mouth in more detail. There are also a number of tobacco and oral health-related case studies. This section should take around 60 minutes to complete.

Who is this training for?

This training is relevant for anyone who may come into contact with smokers in the course of their work.

It is intended to give you an introduction to the brief intervention model which is adopted when raising the issue of stopping smoking with a patient.

The training is relevant for all members of the dental team.

Why learn about raising the issue of smoking?

Your role when raising the issue of smoking is to try to prompt a quit attempt by delivering what is known as 'a brief intervention'.

A brief intervention to stop smoking involves:

By taking just a few minutes to raise the issue of smoking and delivering a brief intervention, you could lead someone to stop smoking forever!

A brief intervention is therefore about speaking to individuals about their smoking in the hope that it triggers them to make a quit attempt.

You are not expected to actually deliver detailed specialist support or aid a smoker with quitting. Instead you should advise smokers, where appropriate, of stop smoking (also known as smoking cessation) services that are available within your local area.

This course will equip you with the required knowledge, skills and confidence in raising the issue of smoking with individuals.

Delivering a brief intervention has been shown to be very effective. The impact raising the issue of smoking can have on improving a person’s health will be discussed later in this section.  

Notes

Although the majority of tobacco is smoked through cigarettes, there are some forms of tobacco which are not smoked. In particular, smokeless forms such as chewing tobacco are more widely used within some ethnic groups. It is therefore important to consider the language used when raising the issue of tobacco use with some ethnic groups. The term 'smoking' may not apply, however other forms of tobacco may be used. For example, you may ask 'Do you use tobacco?' rather than 'Do you smoke?'.

For further information please visit: Types of tobacco used in some minority ethnic groups

Please note: Clicking on the link will automatically lead to the file being downloaded.

'But I am a smoker, can I deliver a brief intervention?'

A brief intervention can be delivered by anyone who has received training in how to do so. It can be delivered by non-smokers, smokers trying to stop, ex-smokers and even current smokers. An individual’s own smoking behaviour should not be viewed as a barrier to delivering brief advice.

It doesn’t matter if you have never smoked or currently do smoke – the important thing is that you are committed to help raise the issue of smoking and to encourage people to think about their smoking.

You can now proceed to section 2