Skip to main content
Toggle Menu of ADA WebSites
ADA Websites
Commissions
A base font size A medium font size A larger font size
Toggle Search Area
Follow us on YouTube Join us on LinkedIn Follow us on Instagram
Toggle Member Links
Toggle Menu
  1. Home
  2. Advocacy
  3. Current Policies
  4. Summary of Policy and Recommendations Regarding Tobacco
e-mail Print Share

Summary of Policy and Recommendations Regarding Tobacco

1964 – Present

1. The Association should continue to educate and inform its membership and the public about the many health hazards attributed to the use of tobacco products, particularly cigarettes, pipes, cigars and smokeless tobacco. (Initially adopted in 1964; revised in 1969, 1978, 1981, and 1988)

2. The Association is opposed to the advertising of cigarettes, pipes, cigar and smokeless tobacco products in both electronic and print media and supports national legislation to this effect. (Initially adopted in 1969; revised in 1988)

3. The Association prohibits smoking at all of its meetings and conferences. (Initially adopted in 1972; revised in 1973, 1976, 1988 and 1992)

4. The Association urges continued research into the adverse health effects of tobacco use. (Adopted in 1986)

5. The Association endorses the mandating of warning labels on tobacco products. (Adopted in 1988)

6. The Association urges its individual members, dental societies, dental schools and related dental organizations to adopt antismoking policies for their offices and meetings, where such policies are not already in place. (Adopted in 1988)

7. The Association urges its members to become fully informed about tobacco cessation intervention techniques to effectively educate their patients to overcome their addiction to tobacco. This information should include education on primary prevention of tobacco use. (Adopted in 1992)

8. The Association supports national and state legislation that would prohibit or limit the ways and places that tobacco advertising and promotion practices can be used, particularly that which appeals to children and teenagers. (Adopted in 1993)

9. The Association supports the enactment and enforcement of laws setting age restrictions for the sale of tobacco products in addition to bans on free sampling. (Initially adopted in 1986; revised in 1993)

10. The Association also supports licensing requirements for sellers of tobacco products and enforcement of bans on the sale of tobacco products through vending machines. (Adopted in 1993)

11. The Association supports the enactment of federal and/or state legislation to significantly increase taxes on tobacco products as a means to discourage the initiation and continuation of tobacco use. (Adopted in 1993)

12. The Association supports the enactment and enforcement of legislation and regulations to reduce the exposure of nonsmoking adults and children to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), with emphasis on facilities and activities that expose the greatest number of people to ETS for the longest periods of time, such as work places, schools, daycare centers, and health care facilities. (Adopted in 1993)

13. The Association urges federal, state and local governments to strengthen and expand their roles in tobacco-use education, prevention, research and cessation efforts. (Adopted in 1993)

14. The Association supports legislation and/or regulation that acknowledges nicotine as an addictive drug and that authorizes the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products as nicotine delivery devices and/or drugs; and further, urges that such legislation be promptly enacted so that the use of nicotine is restricted. (Initially adopted in 1992, revised in 1995)

15. The American Dental Association urges that state tobacco settlement funds be targeted toward improving health and reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with tobacco-related diseases, especially oral diseases, in collaboration with health-related organizations and agencies. (Adopted in 1999)

16. The American Dental Association urges that state tobacco settlement funds be used to improve access to care for underserved populations by increasing funding to dental programs such as Medicaid and the State Child Health Insurance Program. (Adopted in 1999)

17. The American Dental Association urges that a portion of state tobacco settlement funds be targeted toward tobacco control programs that reduce tobacco use, particularly in children and adolescents. (Adopted in 1999)

18. The American Dental Association continue{s} to assist constituent dental societies in designing strategies to promote the use of state tobacco settlement funds in a manner consistent with Association policy. (Adopted in 1999)

19. National Action Plan for Tobacco Cessation
Resolved, that the American Dental Association supports the following proposals approved by the federal Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health in its 2003 national action plan for tobacco cessation:

1. establish a federally-funded National Tobacco Quitline network;
2. launch an ongoing, extensive paid media campaign to help Americans quit using tobacco;
3. include evidence-based counseling and medications for tobacco cessation in benefits provided to all federal beneficiaries and in all federally-funded healthcare programs;
4. invest in a new, broad and balanced research agenda (basic, clinical, public health, translational, dissemination) to achieve future improvements in the reach, effectiveness and adoption of tobacco dependence interventions across both individuals and populations;
5. invest in training and education to ensure that all clinicians in the United States have the knowledge, skills and support systems necessary to help their patients quit tobacco use; and
6. establish a Smokers' Health Fund by increasing the Federal Excise Tax on cigarettes by $2.00 per pack (from the current rate of $0.39 to $2.39) with a similar increase in the excise tax on other tobacco products. At least 50% of this new revenue generated by this tax increase (at least $14 billion of the estimated $28 billion generated) should be earmarked to pay for the components of this action plan. (Adopted in 2003)

20. Tobacco and Harm Reduction
Resolved, that the American Dental Association supports legislation that authorizes the Food and Drug Administration's regulation of all tobacco products, including tobacco products with risk reduction or exposure reduction claims, explicit or implicit, and any other products offered to the public to promote reduction in or cessation of tobacco use, and be it further
Resolved, that the Association supports regulation of all tobacco products in order to ensure meaningful access to a science base for evaluation of the effects of all tobacco products, and be it further
Resolved, that the Association supports regulation of all tobacco products in order to ensure that assessment, including extensive premarket testing, and surveillance are completed, to secure data to serve as a basis for developing and implementing appropriate public health measures, and be it further
Resolved, that if legislation is passed to authorize the FDA to regulate all tobacco products, the Association urges the FDA to authorize the use of harm reduction strategies only as a component of a comprehensive national tobacco control program that emphasizes abstinence-oriented prevention and treatment. (Adopted in 2003)

21. Sources of Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Materials
Resolved, that the American Dental Association urge dentists and health organizations to provide information or materials on tobacco use prevention or cessation to patients and consumers developed by credible and trustworthy sources with expertise in tobacco control, and be it further
Resolved, that the ADA urge dentists and health organizations to avoid providing patients and consumers information or materials on tobacco use prevention or cessation developed by tobacco companies or other groups aligned with the tobacco industry, and be it further
Resolved, that the Association not accept advertisements from tobacco companies or groups aligned with the tobacco industry concerning tobacco use prevention or cessation in any of its official publications, including, but not limited to, The Journal of the American Dental Association and ADA News.

Tobacco Use and Vaping

  • E-Cigarettes and Vaping
    (2020)
  • Tobacco Use, Vaping, and Nicotine Delivery Products
    (2020)

Diet and Nutrition

  • Policies and Recommendations on Diet and Nutrition
    (2016)

Substance Use Disorders (Opioid Crisis)

  • Policy on Opioid Prescribing
    (2018)
  • Insurance Coverage for Chemical Dependency Treatment
    (2017)
  • Statement on Alcohol and Other Substance Use by Pregnant and Postpartum Patients
    (2017)
  • Statement on Alcoholism and Other Substance Use Disorders
    (2017)
  • Statement on the Use of Opioids in the Treatment of Dental Pain
    (2016)
  • Guidelines Related to Alcohol, Nicotine, and/or Drug Use by Child or Adolescent Patients
    (2013)
  • Statement on Provision of Dental Treatment for Patients with Substance Use Disorders
    (2005)