Background. In August 2003, at the 12th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Helsinki, the Swiss National Campaign "Smoking is harmful... Let it be" presented its project at that time "Tobacco - interventions in dental practices".

It was apparent that education and training of oral health professionals in tobacco use prevention and cessation has thus far reached only a limited number of faculty and students of dentistry and dental hygiene worldwide.

The Swiss educational material dealing with tobacco use prevention and cessation appeared to be generalizable to dental practice environments in other countries. Therefore, a decision was made to launch an international network of collaboration. Its mission is to

• connect oral health professionals interested in both providing and teaching tobacco use prevention and cessation,
   

• share resources regarding education and training for faculty and students using a common terminology,
   

• provide a platform to exchange experiences and knowledge,
   

• announce upcoming research workshops, conferences and other educational opportunities in the field.