Cultural aspects of tobacco use

Dent Update. 2008 Jan-Feb;35(1):38-40, 43-4, 47. doi: 10.12968/denu.2008.35.1.38.

Abstract

Tobacco is used worldwide, but culture shapes the specific methods and patterns of its use, with implications for uptake, continuation and cessation. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the range of tobacco use which occurs worldwide, in the context of cultural and social norms. Many of these practices are relevant to the U.K., some having been brought here by migrants, with consequences for general and oral health.

Clinical relevance: It is important that dental professionals are aware of the range of tobacco-related practices prevalent in the variety of dental patients that they may encounter.

MeSH terms

  • Attitude to Health
  • Culture*
  • Dentist-Patient Relations
  • Emigrants and Immigrants / psychology
  • Ethnicity / psychology
  • Female
  • Global Health
  • Health Status
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Oral Health
  • Sex Factors
  • Smoking* / psychology
  • Social Environment
  • Tobacco Industry
  • Tobacco Use Cessation / methods
  • Tobacco Use Cessation / psychology
  • Tobacco, Smokeless
  • United Kingdom