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A smoking cessation clinic delivered by pharmacists and dentists working together led to a 20% quit rate after six months, with a similar proportion reducing their smoking levels.
Publishing their findings in Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy on 18 June 2026, researchers analysed data from participants identified in a dental practice in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where eligible participants — those who were aged over 18 years and who, when questioned, expressed willingness to quit smoking and to attend follow-up sessions — were then referred to the smoking cessation clinic.
The clinic’s smoking cessation programme, which was hosted by the dental practice with a pharmacist in the team, included continuous behavioural counselling, pharmacological therapy and dental care incentives.
At their first clinic session, which was held face-to-face and lasted 90 minutes, participants were seen by both the pharmacist and a dentist. Included in the first session were an oral and dental health check-up performed by the dentist, while the pharmacist provided medicines reconciliation and screened for contraindications to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).
Participants then were offered a five-day supply of NRT, counselling around smoking triggers and support in the development of a quit plan.
An initial follow-up session, also held face-to-face, was led by the pharmacist, which included addressing adherence to NRT, as well as advice on side effects. Further follow-up sessions, which could be face-to-face or remote, involved both dentists and pharmacists.
All of the 140 participants attended the first session, while 82 attended follow-up sessions and went on to complete the six-month programme. Of these, 30 people quit smoking and 28 people reduced their smoking levels.
“The interprofessional pharmacy–dental smoking cessation model was associated with sustained improvements in smoking out comes at three and six months, supported by biochemical verification,” the study authors wrote.
However, they noted: “One key limitation of our study is the overwhelmingly male sample (97%), which may restrict the generalisability of findings across gender — this gender imbalance likely reflected cultural norms in the UAE, where smoking is more prevalent among men.”
The study authors also suggested that future studies should include more women to explore broader applicability.
Darush Attar-Zadeh, honorary clinical fellow respiratory pharmacist at North West London Integrated Care Board, said that in a previous community pharmacy role, he had worked with a dental practice on smoking cessation, as the pharmacy was close to a health centre which had a dental practice within it.
“I did a lot of VBA [very brief advice] training at the time. It took less than 30 seconds to raise the subject knowing that there would be good buy-in from smokers as they also like to have healthy teeth and gums, same as non-smokers,” he said.
“It’s certainly worth exploring further as dental practices are a perfect place to offer this evidence-based model of intervention VBA, and then signpost to the local community pharmacy or other form of stop smoking support that suits the individual; e.g. helplines, apps and local stop smoking services.”
