Background and Context:
Oral Health Professionals are generally in a strong position to deliver brief smoking cessation interventions, however in Victoria this is not currently routinely done. Although the smoking prevalence in Victorian adults who smoke daily is currently 13.3%, there are many population groups where smoking prevalence is much higher. Many members of these sub-populations will access dental care through public and private settings.
Aim:
Smokefree Smiles aims to train and support Victorian oral health professionals to embed brief smoking cessation interventions and routine Quitline referral into their daily practice.
Strategy/Tactics:
Smokefree Smiles focusses on increasing the capacity of oral health professionals to deliver brief interventions through training provision and embed these processes through the development of tools and systems. The project will be testing a new brief smoking cessation intervention framework developed specifically for the oral health setting- Ask, Advise and Help (Just say AAH).
Smokefree Smiles has been funded by the Department of Health Victoria and has developed further partnerships between Quit Victoria, the Australian Dental Association Victorian Branch and Dental Health Services Victoria to tackle the issue of smoking in the oral health setting.
Programme/Policy Process:
Smokefree Smiles is currently being piloted in a range of settings in Victoria, including: public and private, and metropolitan and rural sites.
Outcomes/What was learned:
The pilot project will be completed by the end of 2014 and results and key learning’s will be presented.