Abstract
The aims of this study were to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of dentists in Upper Egypt with regard to oral cancer (OC). Out of 1,200 licensed dental practitioners list, 424 dentists were randomly selected from three governorates in Upper Egypt (Minia, Assuit, and Sohag). The sample size was calculated using the equation considering the knowledge of dentists about OC, confidence level, and margins of error; then, an additional number of dentists were added to guard against nonresponse. Data were collected by face‐to‐face interview using 44 items divided into four sections; first part demonstrates sociodemographic. The second part concerned with the knowledge about OC clinical presentation and diagnosis (12 multiple‐choice questions) as well as its risk factors (17 close‐end questions). The third part consists of six questions focused on the practice of participants, and finally, the last part measures attitude of dentists. The chi‐square test was used to compare between the two or more proportions. A correlation was used for describing the relationship or association between two mutually numerical dependent variables. p < 0.05 was considered to indicate significance. Rate of response was 94.3%. The overall knowledge level in the current study was 31.8%. The awareness about OC risk factors was high especially, smoking tobacco and alcohol consumption. Also, over 80% of dentists identified family history and human papillomavirus (HPV) as risk factors. Only 37.5% of participants performed regular screening of oral mucosa, and 26.5% reported lymph‐node examination. Regarding attitude, only one quarter of dentists attended continuing educating programs about OC. A statistically significant relation (p < 0.0001) between knowledge level and most demographic variables was detected. There was a fair positive correlation (r = 0.47) between practice and knowledge scores. A predominant trouble among dentists in Upper Egypt was regarding OC knowledge and practice. Continues education and training programs are highly recommended.
Highlights
Oral cancer (OC) is one of the global diseases, which occupies the eighth rank among different types known of cancers (Petersen, Bourgeois, Ogawa, Estupinan‐Day, & Ndiaye, 2005; Razavi, Zolfaghari, Foroohandeh, Doost, & Tahani, 2013)
The overall knowledge level in the current study was 127 (31.8%), which considered low (Table 2), the awareness of our dentist about OC risk factors was high as all of them recorded that smoking, tobacco, and alcohol consumption and over 80% mentioned that family history, human papillomavirus (HPV), poorly fitted
The awareness of our dentist about OC risk factors was high as all of them recorded smoking tobacco and alcohol consumption and over 80% mentioned that family history, HPV, poorly fitted dentures, sun exposure, and consumption of hot beverages and foods are risk factors
Summary
Oral cancer (OC) is one of the global diseases, which occupies the eighth rank among different types known of cancers (Petersen, Bourgeois, Ogawa, Estupinan‐Day, & Ndiaye, 2005; Razavi, Zolfaghari, Foroohandeh, Doost, & Tahani, 2013). Wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cre incidence worldwide, the number of new cases demonstrates increase in developing countries (Lopez‐Jornet, Camacho‐Alonso, & Molina‐ Minano, 2010) This disease is responsible for global mortalities about 130.000 people every year (Petti & Scully, 2007). OC prevention predominating relies on the dentists, and this can be achieved by raising the awareness of oral health‐care workers regarding OC signs and symptoms as well as its contributing factors (Canto, Horowitz, Drury, & Goodman, 2002; Monteiro, Salazar, Pacheco, & Warnakulasuriya, 2012) Another important aspect of prevention of OC is improving the dentist's level of practice and encouraging routine inspection of the oral mucosa of the whole patients especially, smokers or alcohol drinkers (Lopez‐ Jornet et al, 2010). The current survey was designed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of dentists about OC in Upper Egypt
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