2021 Volume 71 Issue 4 Pages 223-230
The use of heated tobacco products has rapidly increased in Japan. Here, we tested an oral health-based intervention as a tool to mitigate tobacco usage. A one-day smoking cessation program that emphasized oral health was offered to members of a common occupational sector in 2019. We analyzed data from 241 male smokers (20-54 years old; mean 33.2±10.5 years). The main outcome was change in the desire to stop smoking. Survey items included the level of tobacco use, smoking history, desire to quit smoking, halitosis, lung age, respiratory function, carbon monoxide (CO) concentration in exhaled breath (blood carboxyhemoglobin concentration), and smoking type. The total number of heated tobacco users was 72 (29.9%), which included those who used tobacco in conventional with conventional smoking. Overall, the intervention caused a significant increase in the desire to quit smoking (25.7% before to 44.4% after intervention, p<0.05). The increase was significant for both younger (< 40 years old) and older (> 40 years old) populations (28.6 to 49.7% and 8.7 to 34.8%, respectively, p<0.05). Younger individuals were more likely to report a desire to quit smoking. No significant change was observed for participants who used conventional smokins. The exhaled CO concentration in heated tobacco users was lower than that in conventional smokers (p<0.001). However, halitosis, the lung age difference, and respiratory function did not differ between the two groups (p>0.05). Our findings indicate that oral health-focused intervention may be effective for increasing smoking cessation in heated tobacco users as well as other smokers.
