PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS:

TALKING TOBACCO:

Did you ask your last patient about tobacco use? Every day in this country about 1,200 people die from a tobacco related illness. Dental professionals are in a prime position to help patients quit. Nearly 30,000 new cases of oral and pharyngeal cancer are diagnosed every year. Five-year survival rates dramatically improve when oral cancer is diagnosed in localized stages. Dental professionals have a primary role in providing oral cancer exams and we can’t forget about their importance. The purpose of this program is to encourage dental professionals to address both of these issues. Specific topics will include: the role of dental providers in tobacco use cessation; free resources available to help patients quit; new technologies to assist with diagnosis of oral cancer; and a review of the oral cancer exam.

HISTORY OF TOBACCO USE:

Today, virtually every culture uses tobacco in some form or other. Cigarettes are probably the most widely recognized product on the planet.  Each year tobacco companies produce something like 5.5 trillion cigarettes. Illustrating how a plant grown by Native Americans, used for largely sacred purposes, has achieved this widespread dissemination is the purpose of this presentation. As noted in a recent Surgeon General’s report, “Tobacco has economic, social, and political reverberations and is intimately tied to collective images and attitudes”. Understanding how tobacco use came to its current status can help health care providers more fully recognize the significant cultural role tobacco has and still continues to play, and provide them with a deeper understanding of the value of counseling their patients to stop using tobacco or avoid beginning to use it.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES:  At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:

• define the role of the dental professional in tobacco cessation,

• identify oral and systemic effects of tobacco use,

• perform a brief cessation intervention,

• describe community resources,

• discuss oral cancer screening, describe the growth of tobacco use from the beginning of European access to tobacco to the present,

• discuss the factors that resulted in the rise of cigarette consumption as a form of tobacco use.

FACULTY:

Carolyn Holman, RDH, is the Coordinator of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, Office of Oral Health Tobacco Use Prevention Program. She provides technical assistance and continuing education to dental and medical professionals so they can assist their patients in quitting tobacco use.  Her ten years as coordinator, 14 years in private practice, and her previous experience as a clinical instructor in the Phoenix College Dental Hygiene Program provide valuable insight for adapting tobacco cessation intervention strategies in the dental practice environment. Ms. Holman is certified as a “Basic Tobacco Cessation Skills” instructor, by the HealthCare Partnership at the University of Arizona. She is the liaison between the Arizona Dental Hygiene Association and the American Dental Hygiene Association regarding the National Smoking Cessation Initiative. Ms. Holman is a recognized expert in training oral health professionals on tobacco, and has presented at the national, state and local level.

Michael J. Geboy, PhD, is currently Partnership Director of the Southwest Health Professions Education Center/EES, Prescott Center, Prescott, AZ.  He is a past chairperson of the VA Tobacco Technical Advisory Group, and was a reviewer for the first Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Smoking Cessation Clinical Practice Guideline, and was a member of the VA/DOD clinical practice workgroup establishing guidelines for smoking cessation counseling in Primary Care. Prior to joining VA, he was Associate Professor of Behavioral Science at Georgetown University, School of Dentistry. He has also had faculty appointments at the University of Maryland, School of Nursing; Temple University, School of Dentistry, and the University of Texas at Tyler, Department of Psychology. He has also taught at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. He has published numerous articles, chapters and a textbook in the area of health behavior change.

INTENDED AUDIENCE:  Dentists, Dental Hygienists, Dental Assistants, Lab Techs, and other Dental Professionals.

AGENDA:

8:00 AM - 8:15 AM               Registration and Continental Breakfast

Speaker:  Carolyn Holman, RDH

8:15 AM - 9:45 AM               Tobacco Update and Review of Oral Manifestations of Tobacco Use

9:45 AM - 10:00 AM            Morning Break

10:00 AM - 11:30 AM          Cessation Intervention Strategies
                                               Tobacco Cessation Medications
                                               Oral Cancer Updates

Speaker:  Michael J. Geboy, PhD

11:30 AM - 12:30 PM          History of Tobacco Use 

12:30 PM                              Program Closure and Evaluations

CONTINUING EDUCATION: The Southwest Health Professions Education Center, Inc. (SEC) certifies this program for 4 contact hours.  A certificate of attendance will be awarded. 

The Department of Veterans Affairs, Employee Education System is an ADA CERP Recognized Provider. ADA CERP is a service of the American Dental Association to assist dental professionals in identifying quality providers of continuing dental education. ADA CERP does not approve or endorse individual courses or instructors, nor does it imply acceptance of credit hours by boards of dentistry.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, Employee Education System designates this activity for 4 continuing education credits.