Trial Information

Personalized Risk Feedback in Dental Clinic Smokers

Despite the health hazards of tobacco use, approximately 47 million Americans continue to
use tobacco. The primary care dental team has a credible, central role in providing smoking
cessation advice and information concerning the oral health effects of tobacco use. Given
that unrealistic optimism regarding one's tobacco-related illness risk attenuates smokers'
motivation to quit, providing patients with information regarding the personal impact of
tobacco on their health is likely to enhance minimal contact smoking cessation interventions
by increasing quitting motivation. The overall goal of this project is to test the effect
of personalized risk communication on short and long-term smoking cessation outcomes among
dental patients in a large, multi-ethnic public dental clinic. Personalized Risk
Communication involves two components: a) level of tobacco exposure (alveolar carbon
monoxide level); and b) tobacco-related oral damage (through dental hygienist examination of
teeth and oral mucosa). The study uses a prospective, experimental design to assess the
effect of this intervention on smoking cessation, health and smoking-related cognitions at
approximately 3 and 12 months. Participants are randomized to one of three smoking
cessation treatment conditions: 1) Standard Care only (SC) receives standard care
dentist-provided smoking cessation advice, assistance and follow-up; 2) Standard Care +
Dental Hygienist-provided Motivational Counseling (SC+MC) receives standard care plus
motivational smoking cessation counseling provided by a trained dental hygienist, and 3)
Standard Care + Dental Hygienist-provided Motivational Counseling + Personalized Risk
Communication (SC+MC+PRC) receives standard care plus motivational counseling and
personalized risk communication. The overarching aim is to test the effect of personalized
risk communication on smoking cessation and to examine potential mechanisms and moderating
effects of the personalized risk communication. Receiving personalized risk communication
in the dental setting, especially when paired with dentist-provided minimal contact smoking
cessation advice and dental hygienist-provided motivational counseling, could increase
smokers' motivation for quitting, and represents an important translational,
multidisciplinary strategy for tobacco-related cancer prevention