Dentists' attitudes about their role in addressing obesity in patients: a national survey

Alice E Curran; Daniel J Caplan; Jessica Y Lee; Lauren Paynter; Ziya Gizlice; Catherine Champagne; Alice S Ammerman; Robert Agans

doi:10.14219/jada.archive.2010.0075

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Dentists' attitudes about their role in addressing obesity in patients: a national survey

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Dentists' attitudes about their role in addressing obesity in patients: a national survey

Alice E Curran, Daniel J Caplan, Jessica Y Lee, Lauren Paynter, Ziya Gizlice, Catherine Champagne, Alice S Ammerman and Robert Agans

The Journal of the American Dental Association (1939), Vol.141(11), pp.1307-1316

11/2010

DOI: 10.14219/jada.archive.2010.0075

PMID: 21037188

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Abstract

Reducing the incidence of obesity requires coordination among primary health care providers. Because of their frequent contact with patients, dentists are positioned to recognize patients at risk of developing obesity. The authors conducted a study to assess dentists' interest in and barriers to providing obesity counseling to patients. The authors surveyed a random sample of 8,000 American Dental Association members by mail, stratified according to census region (West, Midwest, South, Northeast) and dentist type (general, pediatric). The authors weighted respondents' data to account for the unequal probability of selection and nonresponse rates among regions and dentist types. In all, 2,965 dentists responded. Overall, 4.8 percent of respondents offered a form of counseling services and 50.5 percent reported that they were interested in offering obesity-related services. More than one-half of the respondents cited fears of offending patients (53.8 percent) and appearing judgmental (52 percent) as major barriers, followed by a paucity of trained personnel (46.3 percent) and patients' rejection of weight-loss advice (45.7 percent). Eighty-two percent of respondents agreed that dentists would be more willing to intervene if obesity were linked definitively to oral disease. Given continued increases in obesity in the United States and the willingness of dentists to assist in preventive and interventional efforts, experts in obesity intervention, in conjunction with dental educators, should develop models of intervention within the scope of dental practice. Educating dentists about obesity and counseling may reduce barriers for those interested in addressing obesity in their practices. Supplementary material includes survey instrument.

United States

Counseling

Dental Auxiliaries - education

Self Efficacy

Obesity - psychology

Humans

Middle Aged

Professional Practice

General Practice, Dental

Male

Professional Role

Practice Patterns, Dentists

Adult

Female

Medicaid

Pediatric Dentistry

Body Mass Index

Attitude of Health Personnel

Attitude to Health

Dentist-Patient Relations

Pilot Projects

Weight Loss

Dentists - psychology

Obesity - prevention & control

Patients - psychology

Referral and Consultation

obesity counseling

Details

Title: Subtitle: Dentists' attitudes about their role in addressing obesity in patients: a national survey
Creators: Alice E Curran - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 27599-7450, USA
Daniel J Caplan
Jessica Y Lee
Lauren Paynter
Ziya Gizlice
Catherine Champagne
Alice S Ammerman
Robert Agans
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: The Journal of the American Dental Association (1939), Vol.141(11), pp.1307-1316
DOI: 10.14219/jada.archive.2010.0075
PMID: 21037188
NLM abbreviation: J Am Dent Assoc
ISSN: 0002-8177
eISSN: 1943-4723
Publisher: American Dental Association; England
Language: English
Date published: 11/2010
Academic Unit: Preventive and Community Dentistry
Record Identifier: 9983917766802771

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