Impact of Oral Health Educational Intervention on Smoking among Male Adolescents

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of oral health educational intervention on smoking among male Saudi adolescents. METHODS: This study included participants from male public high schools (10–12-grade students) in Dammam, Dhahran, and Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, between March 2018 and May 2018. Multistage random sampling was used to recruit the students. The participants received two sessions of oral health educational intervention, which was based on educating the adverse effects of smoking on oral health. A pilot-tested questionnaire was used to collect preintervention and postintervention data. McNemar's test was performed for statistical analysis. RESULTS: There were 432 participants in the study with a mean age of 10.18 ± 8.44 years. The prevalence of smoking was 31.7% in the preintervention stage. Over half the participants (60.6%) had family history of smoking. There was no reduction in smoking prevalence after the educational intervention. A significant improvement in the awareness about the effects of smoking on oral health was observed after the intervention (P < 0.05). The proportion of smokers willing to quit smoking significantly increased from 34.3% in the preintervention stage to 55.5% in postintervention stage (P = 0.021). Similarly, the percentage of smokers willing to join smoking cessation program increased after the intervention. CONCLUSION: There was a significant improvement in the awareness about the effects of smoking on oral health. The study found significantly higher percentage of adolescents willing to quit smoking after oral health educational interventions. The smoking cessation campaigns should include the education of adverse effects of smoking on oral health.