What is the role of dentists in smoking cessation?

The associations between tobacco use and diseases affecting the oral cavity, such as periodontal disease and cancer, are now well recognised.1-3 This has lead to proposals from some members of the profession and the BDA that members of the dental team should provide smoking cessation services.4-5 Many dentists have positive attitudes towards the idea of dentists encouraging patients to stop smoking.6 However the belief that members of the dental team should engage in delivering smoking cessation interventions is not held by all parties.5,7 More dentists believe that they should offer smoking cessation support than actually do provide it and reasons for not providing it include time and reimbursement issues, need for further training and poor co-ordination of dental and smoking cessation services.6,8,9.