A Survey on awareness, knowledge, and attitude toward NICE oral cancer referral guidelines among general dental practitioners in edo state

Abstract

Background: The NICE oral cancer referral guidelines (NICE OCRG) are yet to be adopted in Nigeria. The level of awareness, knowledge, and attitude among general dental practitioners (GDPs) in Nigeria toward NICE OCRG is evaluated. Materials and Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information from GDPs in Edo state on the awareness, knowledge, and attitude toward the NICE OCRG. A total of 83 respondents participated in the study. Data collected were analyzed and presented in descriptive and tabular forms as numbers and percentages. The study was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 (IBM, USA). Results: The male-to-female ratio was 1.4:1.0. The mean age was 33.3 ± 5.30 years, with age range from 21 to 50 years. Nearly 63.9% of the respondents were found to have heard of the NICE OCRG, of which 43.4% had their source from the Internet. Most of the respondents (n = 43, 51.8%) had fair knowledge of OCRG followed by those with good knowledge (n = 25, 30.1%) and those with poor knowledge of OCRG (n = 15, 18.1%). Overall 55.4% of the respondents agreed that the NICE OCRG will help reduce diagnostic delay and false-positive referral of oral cancers if adopted in Nigeria. Furthermore, 77.1% of the respondents were willing to implement the NICE OCRG if adopted in Nigeria. Conclusion: The awareness and knowledge of the NICE OCRG among GDPs in Nigeria is encouraging, and most of them had favorable attitude toward the NICE OCRG. There is a clear need to adopt the NICE OCRG in Nigeria to reduce diagnostic delay and false-positive referral of oral cancers.