A Survey About Awareness of Oral Cancer Among the Undergraduate Dental Students

Abstract

Dentists have a crucial role within the best prevention measures, controlling etiological factors and early detection. Lack of general dentist carcinoma knowledge has been shown to be a serious factor to delays in referral and treatment. Dentists’ competence and confidence in detecting carcinoma could also be strongly influenced by their school of dentistry training. Hence, it's the responsibility of the school of dentistry to make sure the formation of a generalist with solid technical, scientific, ethical knowledge, promoting good oral hygiene and prevention of oral diseases. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess dental student’s awareness, role in preventing and early detection of oral cancer. The study population included 100 dental students. The risk factors for carcinoma mainly described by the scholars were 44% for smoking and 8% for alcohol consumption. Most of the scholars considered that labial/ buccal mucosa was the commonest site in diagnosis of oral cancer. The early detection of carcinoma improves survival, which was suggested by 46% of scholars. About 59% of scholars reported that they need sufficient knowledge regarding prevention and management of carcinoma. In this present study, out of 100 Dental students who participated in awareness of carcinoma, majority of the dental students were aware and had better knowledge on preventive measures of oral cancer. This study also highlights the necessity for an improvement of the teaching program regarding oral examination.