Dental prosthetist experience with oral mucosal screening and referral.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate dental prosthetists' experiences with screening and referral for suspicious oral mucosal pathology. Questionnaires regarding oral mucosal screening and referral were mailed to 300 randomly selected dental prosthetists in Australia for selfcompletion. Non-responders were sent replacement questionnaires up to three times, according to the Dillman method. A total of 179 prosthetists returned completed questionnaires resulting in a response rate of 64.9% after excluding 24 due to incorrectly listed addresses. Most participants reported that they checked all new patients for oral mucosal pathology (99.4%) and most reported that they checked all recall patients for mucosal pathology (86%). Most participants had detected a suspicious lesion (86%) and most had referred for a suspicious lesion (77.3%). Australian dental prosthetists appear motivated to perform oral mucosal screening and will refer suspicious oral mucosal pathology when detected.