The rate of tobacco smoking among dental school students in Turkey

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Objectives: This survey aimed to investigate the attitudes of the first-and fifth-year Turkish dental school students towards tobacco and to determine the prevalence of those using various tobacco products.Materials & Methods: The survey was conducted between May 1 and June 30, 2018 and the first-and fifth-year students were from eleven dental schools located in different regions of Turkey.Data were tested statistically using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) program.Results: A total of 1228 students participated and 1096 completed the online survey.The majority of the participants were females (n=691, 63.05%).Mean age of the participants was 21.8 ± 2.9 years (age range 18-54 years).Although the overall rate of current smokers was 37.96%, 62.04% of the participants had inhaled tobacco smoke at least once.More than half (55.19%) of the current smokers stated that they wish to quit and 29.26% of these students have attempted to quit within the last six months.Only 19.49% of all participants defined themselves as highly addicted to cigarette smoking.The rate of waterpipe smokers was 41.2%, of which 83.7% declared that they had no intention to quit.Conclusion: This study shows that the rate of tobacco smokers is rather high among dental school students in Turkey and this finding points out the need for novel and more effective precautions against tobacco.