[The knowledge about tobacco related diseases and the prevalence of tobacco smoking among future dentists. The comparison of the results obtained in 2002 to the results from 2014].

UNLABELLED

A non-smoking doctor should set an example for patients. Dentists’ attitudes and behaviors have significant influence on their willingness to giving anti-smoking advices and the effectiveness of provided recommendations.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The research (in the form of a survey) involved 78 students of the 5th year of stomatology at the Medical University in Lodz. The obtained data were compared to the results from similar studies conducted in 2002.

RESULTS

Students’ knowledge about etiology of the most common tobacco-related diseases is mixed and insufficient. Tobacco smoking does not diversify people in terms of their awareness of tobacco-related diseases. The percentage of smokers in the analyzed group was measured as 26.9% and non-smokers as 48.7%. Moreover, behavior of students as future doctors who will have contact with smoking patients was also discussed. A doctor’s duty is to encourage people to quit smoking. The current attitude of doctors towards the fight against the addiction is rather passive, and, according to students, comes from their insufficient knowledge.

CONCLUSIONS

During the education of future doctors greater emphasis should be put on delivering pieces of information coming from the advanced scientific research on tobacco-related diseases, and an attempt should be made to increase the knowledge about the diagnosis and treatment of tobacco- related diseases.