Major Healthcare Organizations Join Forces to Battle Tobacco Use
12/13/2004 Toronto, Ontario, Canada Staff editor Canada Newswire (newswire.ca) Physicians, dentists and pharmacists team up to help Ontarians stop smoking. Today, three of Ontario's professional healthcare associations are promoting increased public awareness of the efforts of a growing number of physicians, dentists and pharmacists throughout Ontario who are helping their patients quit smoking through the Clinical Tobacco Intervention (CTI) Program. CTI is funded, in part, by the Government of Ontario. The Ontario Dental Association (ODA), The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) and the Ontario Pharmacists' Association (OPA) have been working together to train dentists, physicians and pharmacists in stop smoking interventions and want the public to know they can look to their family doctor, dentist or pharmacist for help. "Dentists are oral health care specialists and routinely see health problems in patients that are directly linked to tobacco use," said Dr. Steve Goren, President of the Ontario Dental Association. "We see first hand the association between tobacco use and a range of oral diseases, from gum disease to oral cancer. That's why Ontario dentists are motivated to provide patients with tobacco cessation advice and assistance." Research shows that advice from a healthcare provider can significantly increase the chance of successfully quitting smoking. Success rates increase further when combined with stop-smoking medications and/or intensive counselling. "Pharmacists are aware of how difficult it is for some people to quit smoking," said OPA Chair Jane Farnham. "Our message to people is that you can quit and we can help by providing information and advice [...]