Lasting Impressions | Summer 2016

22 x NSU LASTING IMPRESSIONS program. There’s really no risk, and there is everything to gain. And it makes my job easier.” The key to success is for the dentist to build brief motiva- tional interventions for tobacco- dependent patients and referrals to tobacco-cessation services into his or her practice. “You are the role model for your office,” said Nevin Zablotsky, D.M.D., a Vermont periodontist and tobacco educator who frequently makes presentations at the CDM. “If you say it’s important, then your hygienist, your assistants, and your front-desk people will feel it’s important,” added Zablotsky, who wrote the chapter on tobacco, its relationship to oral and overall health, and cessation in the new textbook, Non-Surgical Control of Periodontal Diseases: A Comprehensive Handbook 2016 . Hyang Min Park, who graduated from the CDM in May 2016, has been pleased with the results of her conversations with patients. Two of her patients at the CDM’s dental clinic have joined the NSU AHEC’s free tobacco-cessation groups. “I share any information they need and let them make a choice,” she said. “They tell us they are cutting down on smoking, and we encourage them to continue with the free smoking- cessation groups.” Too often, smokers expect to be attacked and shamed, rather than invited to share their own concerns about tobacco. As a simple communica- tion technique, motivational interview- ing is used to assist health professionals briefly discuss tobacco addiction with their patients. “We want them to be comfortable,” said Sheri Schour, AHEC senior project specialist. “It’s a touchy subject,” said Amir N. Farhangpour, D.D.S., clinical director at the CDM. “Our students have to be sensitive and empathetic with their patients in assessing their motivation and advising them to quit smoking.” Kimberly Wang, R.D.H., a member of the Department of Periodontology who works with students in the NSU dental clinic, was pleased when a student convinced a patient to join one of the AHEC tobacco-cessation support groups. “My student talked to one patient a couple of times and did the groundwork. I referred him to a smoking-cessation group right then and there.” she said. By the time they become practitioners, all CDM dental students will have been well trained on tobacco cessation.” —Abby J. Brodie, D.M.D., M.S.