engleski

Knowledge of Fourth and Fifth Year Dental Students on Oral Cancer

Background: More than 90% of oral cancers are squamous cell carcinomas. The literature data show insufficient knowledge and awareness on oral cancer among dental and medical students. Objective: To assess the knowledge of graduating dental students regarding oral cancer and to assess their awareness of the prevention and early detection of oral cancer. Subjects and Methods: The study group consisted of 83 students of fourth and fifth years of dental medicine study who answered all of the questions in the original 16-item questionnaire. Results: Students of fifth year were more likely to be smokers compared to fourth year students (39.5% vs. 22.5%). Higher percentage of non-smokers than smokers had marked 'stop smoking' as an important preventive measure (non-smokers 91.2%, smokers 84.3%, p = 0.01). More than half of the students considered their knowledge to be good, a quarter of them regarded their knowledge as being poor, and only two students have rated their knowledge positively 'excellent'. Other students (15.66%) considered their knowledge to be very good. Interestingly, a large number of students of both years considered benign hairy leukoplakia as precancerous lesion. Conclusion: Theoretical knowledge seems to be retained better than practical skills. The level of practical clinical skills should be increased in the teaching process and communication skills of students should be developed by including them in patient screening and counseling programs.

knowledge ; dental students ; oral cancer

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