California Dental Hygienists Urge Smokers to Kick the Hab...( Free Smokers' Helpline Available ...),Health

Free Smokers' Helpline Available to Make New Year Smoke-Free

GLENDALE, Calif., Dec. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In anticipation of the season for making New Year's resolutions, California Dental Hygienists' Association (CDHA) is calling on smokers to resolve to quit in 2008 by taking a simple first step: calling the California Smokers' Helpline.

"Smokers shouldn't feel they have to battle their addictions alone," said Jean Honny, president of CDHA. "We know for a fact that people are twice as likely to quit smoking successfully when they use California Smokers' Helpline as compared to when they try to quit on their own."

California's dental hygienists have been instrumental in boosting call volumes to the hotline - 1-800-NO-BUTTS - because they are in a unique position to observe the tobacco damage while performing routine dental care on patients.

Since 2005, CDHA and its members have partnered with the California Smokers' Helpline on a campaign called the New California Gold Rush - a comprehensive approach in which dental hygienists take a few minutes to educate their patients about the serious health consequences of tobacco use and counsel them to quit.

"Tobacco use remains the number one cause of preventable disease and death, killing almost one in two smokers," said Honny. "And while California has attained a record low smoking rate of 13.3 percent, there are still nearly 4 million smokers in the state, including more than 200,000 teens."

The California Smokers' Helpline is a free and confidential statewide telephone counseling service available to anyone in the state who would like to quit smoking. Callers receive free, confidential one-on-one assistance from counselors who know the difficulties of quitting smoking. During the more than 15 years in operation, the hotline has helped nearly 500,000 smokers.

Californians who would like assistance quitting smoking can contact the California Smo
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