The Foundation of the Spanish Society of Periodontology and Osseointegration (SEPA) and the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP) have launched an innovative global campaign in which specialists from more than 30 countries have joined forces "to place the dental consultation at the forefront against tobacco and nicotine".
At the presentation of this initiative, it was emphasized that "promoting global efforts for smoking cessation and prevention and new forms of nicotine consumption from the dental consultation is the ambitious objective" of "Working Together to Stop Tobacco and Nicotine".
As the organizers have explained, this is "the first activity derived from the global initiative 'Working Together', of great scientific, informative, and strategic value, the result of a philanthropic donation from American professor Paul Levi Jr. and his wife Patricia Levi, promoted by the SEPA Foundation in cooperation with the Levi-Richman Integration Initiative of the Foundation of the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP, for its acronym in English)".
The purpose is that "oral health, and the professionals in this field, are to be placed at the forefront of the fight against the main modifying factors of periodontitis, such as tobacco or diabetes," they have pointed out, further emphasizing that, "recognizing the close relationship between oral health and general health, the Levi-Richman Integration Initiative, with the support of the SEPA Foundation, the AAP Foundation, and the ENSP, seeks to bring Dentistry and Medicine closer together."
Connection between mouth and general health
In this context, Paul Levi has remarked that "the objective is to educate both patients and health professionals about the connection between oral and systemic health, and to promote an integral approach to general well-being." Both "are inseparable," he has stressed, recalling that "periodontal diseases are not simply localized gum infections."
He added that "bacteria and toxins associated with periodontal disease, along with the body's inflammatory response, can influence systemic health," and that "systemic conditions can significantly affect the onset, progression, and treatment of periodontal disease."
The action initially focuses on tobacco and new forms of nicotine consumption. Its first activity will be a free symposium with several "online" sessions, scheduled for June 4, which "acquires an international character and global reach, with the direct involvement of more than 60 speakers and 30 scientific organizations and countries".
Regarding participation, the organization has detailed that "among those who have committed their direct intervention in this global symposium, making a local disconnection in the second part of it (with parallel rooms by country), are Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine; Argentina, United States, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Dominican Republic and Venezuela; Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Morocco, Taiwan and Australia; as well as the Ibero-Pan American Federation of Periodontology (FIPP, for its acronym in English), the Continental European Division of the International Association for Dental Research (CED-IADR) or the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)".
Likewise, the participation of the president of SEPA, Dr. Paula Matesanz; the president of the AAP Foundation, Dr. Chris R. Richardson; the member of the Scientific Committee of ENSP, Eleana Stoufi; the professor at the Italian University of Ferrara and the French University Paris Cité, María Clotilde Carra; the executive director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), Laurent Huber; the former president of ENSP, Francisco Rodríguez Lozano; and the representative of the Tobacco-Free Unit of the Health Promotion Department of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Dongbo, is planned.
"Just by counting on these countries that have already committed their involvement," it is calculated "a joint population of approximately 1.5 billion people," they have indicated, specifying that "in total, about 1.425 billion inhabitants reside in these countries and, therefore, are susceptible to receiving a clear and direct message from the more than half a million dental clinics that have in their respective national territories about the work that the dental consultation can carry out in the prevention of smoking and other forms of nicotine consumption or to promote cessation".
Prevention from the dental consultation
For Dr. Matesanz, "the close link between smoking and oral health not only raises the need to undertake treatment measures, but also opens up multiple prevention possibilities". In her opinion, "therefore, it is considered that dental consultation can be a driving force to promote the abandonment of tobacco consumption and other products containing nicotine, as well as to prevent the onset of this disease, which is smoking".
Along the same lines, the treasurer of the ENSP, Raquel Fernández Megina, has argued that "the fight against smoking requires the involvement of all health sectors" and that "systematically incorporating cessation intervention into dental practice reinforces a comprehensive evidence-based strategy and multiplies the real opportunities for consumption abandonment".
Richardson also spoke, highlighting that "dentists worldwide will further emphasize their fundamental role in helping people understand the negative impact of smoking and the importance of collaborating with their medical colleagues to find solutions to the difficult task of quitting smoking".
Risk factors and the role of the dental team
Regarding the determinants of periodontal disease, Paul Levi recalled that "although bacterial biofilm is the main cause of periodontal disease, important risk factors include exposure to nicotine (smoking, vaping), which can profoundly influence a person's susceptibility to periodontal destruction and their response to treatment".
This global initiative aims to "empower the dental clinic team, giving them tools to help patients quit smoking or not start consuming". As Rodríguez Lozano has emphasized, "with the impetus of ENSP and the SEPA Foundation, as well as the support of the AAP Foundation, borders are overcome and a global dimension is acquired, raising awareness and informing dentists of the need to get involved, along with all healthcare professionals, in the fight against the leading cause of preventable disease".
In Matesanz's words, "from the dental office, we have the great opportunity to influence smoking cessation, since we regularly attend to a broad sector of the population, thus having multiple occasions to advise, help, and accompany our patients in this process of quitting tobacco consumption," while the project's promoters have reiterated that the "objective" "is to raise awareness among all professionals working in the oral health field about the need to routinely get involved in smoking cessation interventions in their practices."