The major goal of this study is to see if dentist delivered cessation advice and risk counseling about the effects of tobacco in the mouth will enhance the motivation to quit smoking.

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

Ages Eligible for Study:  18 Years and above,  Genders Eligible for Study:  Both

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Criteria

Inclusion criteria:

• Subject must be at least 18 years of age
• Seeking routine dental care at NYU College of Dentistry and meets medical clearance for routine care
• Active smokers (regular use of at least 10 cigarettes per day)
• Able to provide a telephone number or collateral contact information where they can be reached over the subsequent 12 months
• Fluent in English or Spanish

Exclusion criteria:

• History of mouth or throat cancer