Kaiser clinicians have the knowledge, training, and resources to ask, advise, assist and arrange cessation services for patients who use tobacco. Clients receive educational information through the dental offices and by mail. Internal and external resources have been developed for clients. External cessation resources have been particularly helpful for members who have medical coverage through other insurers. Data information is reported quarterly to the QA Committee and also given to the individual provider and to the management team.
Individual comparison is made against the corporate standard.
In the future, the hope is to implement an electronic data record to improve the quality of the data and the ease with which it can be gathered. The Kaiser dental tobacco cessation program is integrated with other prevention activity. Each client is assessed for oral disease and risk status for caries, periodontal disease, and oral cancer. Smoking places a client in the high risk category for both periodontal disease and oral cancer. As such, the client receives a tailored message regarding oral health and smoking status.