Tobacco cessation within the dental curriculum in the United States and internationally.

Tobacco use is a worldwide public health issue with enormous costs in morbidity and mortality. Dentists are in a unique position as health care providers to offer tobacco cessation counseling to their patients. In order to do so, clinicians must be properly trained in tobacco cessation skills. The onus falls upon professional schools to include information about tobacco use, its clinical effects, and ways to help patients quit into the dental curriculum. In the past 15 years, there has been an increase in the number of dental schools that have adopted anti-tobacco policies and included tobacco in their clinical courses both here in the United States and in Europe. Dental schools with functional tobacco cessation programs in place must follow up on the activities conducted in their clinics to ensure that dental students are appropriately employing the correct techniques and, thus, learning to provide optimal care to their patients.