Assessment of Knowledge and Perception of Dentists toward Nicotine Replacement Therapy in a Dental College of Bareilly City: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Smoking is the prime risk factor for the oral cancer and other diseases. Dentists plays an important role in preventing the habit of
smoking by motivating tobacco cessation. The unexplored level of knowledge about nicotine replacement therapy has developed our interest
to assess the knowledge and perception of dentists toward nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) by using a self-administered questionnaire.
Materials and methods: The study is conducted among dentists in a dental college and they were randomly selected by using convenient
random sampling. Their knowledge and perception were assessed using a questionnaire.
Results: Of the 100 subjects, 66% were females and 34% were males and the mean age was 26.14 ± 4.55. The knowledge of term NRT (92%)
was good. Nearly 43% know about the forms of NRT (gums, lozenges, tablets, nasal spray, and patches). Approximately 58% were aware of the
effectiveness of NRT to help smokers quit.
Conclusion: The superficial knowledge of dentists is good, but they are somewhere lacking a deep knowledge of NRT. Therefore, there is a need
to inculcate a topic of NRT in the academic schedule and some professional training programs should be carried out.
Keywords: Dentist, Knowledge, Nicotine replacement therapy, Perception, Tobacco cessation.
Journal of Dental Sciences and Oral Rehabilitation (2019): 10.5005/jp-journals-10086-1204