Road to victory

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is calling on dental staff to use the annual health campaign as an opportunity to promote quit aids in their practice and signpost smokers to local support services.

In a poll carried out for the BHF ahead of No Smoking Day almost half of the 2000 smokers (47 per cent) questioned admitted they were concerned about the impact smoking has on their teeth. However, a recent survey for the British Dental Health Foundation found that there was still limited awareness about the effects of smoking on oral health with one in four people not realising that it is the leading cause of mouth cancer, a disease that kills one person every five hours in the UK.

Research shows the majority of smokers will experience multiple quit attempts before they’re able to give cigarettes up for good. This year’s No Smoking Day has a ‘V for Victory’ theme which is set to inspire hundreds of thousands of smokers to win the fight against cigarettes.