Tobacco use, its influences, triggers, and associated oral lesions among the patients attending a dental institution in rural Maharashtra, India

BACKGROUND: World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that tobacco deaths in India may exceed 1.5 million annually by 2020. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of tobacco use, its influences, triggers, and associated oral lesions among the patients of Rural Dental College and Hospital of Loni, Maharashtra. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted from June - December 2010. All the patients from the outpatient department and with tobacco habits were included in the study. Patients were interviewed through a pre-tested structured questionnaire in relation to their tobacco habits, its influences and triggers. Also clinical examination was carried out to check for any tobacco related oral lesions. For the data analysis, Microsoft Excel and chi-square test was used. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of tobacco use was 16.38%. Smokeless form of tobacco was more prevalent in both males (81.84%) and females (100%). Majority of the patients (males - 68.22%, females- 90.62%) were light tobacco users. About 76.09% males and 31.25% females admitted that they developed the habit due to initial influence of friends. The most common oral mucosal lesion in both the males (42.20%) and females (11.07%) was tobacco hyperkeratosis. Most common trigger for tobacco use was “work related” (69.14%) in males and “after meals” (53.13%) in females. CONCLUSION: Since the number of tobacco users visiting the dental hospital is reasonably high; dentists can contribute to restrain the hazard through community educational activities such as de-addiction counseling of tobacco users to quit the habit.