Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the characteristics of hookah use, addiction levels, and the perceptions of hookah smokers on the impact of hookah on general and dental health, social life, and psychology. Material and Methods: 160 hookah smoking patients over the age of 18 years seeking dental care in a university setting were invited to participate the study. A survey consisting of 70 questions was prepared. The Google Forms platform (Google LLC, Mountain View, CA, USA) was used to construct an online questionnaire. Data were evaluated using appropriate statistical tests. Results: A total of 143 out of 160 invited patients completed the survey. The majority of the participants were female (76.9%). A larger proportion of participants preferred to smoke flavored hookah tobacco (83.2%). Most respondents almost half of the participants reported experiencing dry mouth rarely to often, 40% reported bad breath and tooth discoloration, and nearly 30% reported sore mouth. Thirty-five percent of the respondents reported that they would smoke hookah even if it is harmful to their health. Conclusion: Among the participants of this survey, hookah seems to play a major role in the initiation of tobacco addiction. Although hookah is consumed infrequently, smoking sessions tend to be long increasing the exposure time to toxic components compared to cigarette smokers. Tobacco control efforts should be broadened and regulated to include all tobacco products including hookah. Training dentists in smoking cessation counselling may help to increase the number of individuals who quit smoking.
BULGEN et al. (Thu,) studied this question.