Smoking and Second-Hand Smoke Prevalence and Attitudes among Dental Faculty Staff and Students

Introduction: There is no safe level of secondhand smoke and conclusive evidence exists about the association between life threatening disease and passive smoking. Breathing even a little secondhand smoke can be dangerous. Secondhand smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, 200 of which are toxins and 43 are carcinogens. Those who have heart disease and/or asthma are particularly susceptible to exposure to secondhand smoke exposure (US Surgeon General report 2006). Passive smoking, according to the recent global assessment of the burden of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is still one of the most important threats to public health (Oberget al., 2011) Materials and Methods: This study examined smoking rates and attitudes towards second hand smoke among Dental faculty at SEGi University, Malaysia. An anonymous survey questionnaire was distributed to all students, academic and non academic staff. Results: The response rate was 88.0% (147 Individuals) and 6.1% respondents had smoked more than 100 cigarettes in their life and 3.4% were current smokers. Current smokers averaged 6.4 cigarettes per day and smoked 2.6 per day on campus. A majority of respondents believed air quality to be fair (45.6%) while 34.7% stated it was poor. and Almost 40% of respondents said that they smell second hand smoke very frequently or frequently (38.8%). On the other hand, a large majority (78.9%) said that a smoking ban would greatly improve the public image of University and a majority (64.6%) believed it will greatly improve their job or academic performance. There is strong agreement that tobacco smoke is dangerous for smokers and nonsmokers' health (93.9%), and 89.4% would like to see university going smoke free but there was a mixed opinion about how a smoke free policy might be enforced. Conclusion: It is clear that there is considerable support for a smoke free policy in the university but there must be adequate education and consultation. Keywords: smoking, second hand smoke, smoke free