Journal of dental education
-
Smoking kills 900,000 people every year in India. Many studies have shown that counseling from a health professional is an effective method of helping patients quit. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of dental students in Karnataka, India, towards smoking cessation counseling. ⋯ Although 94 percent responded they were giving antismoking advice to their patients, only 47 percent said they had been taught antismoking advice suitable for patients. While a majority (95 percent) planned to advise patients about tobacco use in their professional careers, significantly fewer (66 percent) indicated that such counseling would help patients to quit. This study of dental students and interns found that a majority intended to provide smoking cessation counseling in their professional career and agreed it is part of their professional role.
-
The 2000 U. S. census reported that the population is 12.3 percent African American and 12.5 percent Hispanic; however, less than 4 percent of dentists are African American and 2 percent are Hispanic. To address this disparity, increasing the diversity of dental students is mandatory. ⋯ Data from ULSD's admissions, institutional research, and planning along with annual enrollment surveys from the American Dental Education Association were used to determine the percentage of African American and Hispanic students entering (1993-2006) and graduating (1997-2010). From 1993 to 2010, African American enrollment increased from 3 to 9.6 percent of the entering class, and the graduation rate of African American students increased from 1.7 to 8.5 percent. Hispanic student enrollment also increased (1.6 percent in 1993 to 2.4 percent in 2006), but Hispanic student graduation rates decreased (3.5 percent in 1996 to 0 percent in 2010).