Type Of Oral Cancer Research Articles

Clinical aspects of oral cancer and potentially malignant disorders in South and Southeast Asia.

Oral cancer and Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMD) are major health problems in South and Southeast Asia. To describe and discuss the clinical aspects of Oral Cancer and OPMD in South and Southeast Asia. Literature review of concepts and data over the last four decades. Asian countries account for about two-thirds of new cases of oral cancer (OC) globally, with the highest burden in the South and Southeast Asian countries, including Pakistan and India. Habits, dietary patterns, socioeconomic status, and access to routine dental care play a crucial role in defining the demographics and clinical presentation of OC in these regions and significantly influence the morbidity and mortality of the disease. This region sees the use of different types of tobacco with or without areca nut (AN), such as pan masala, gutka, gul, snuff, mawa, and mishri. Tobacco use is high among men in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Bhutan. Areca nut is the fourth most common addictive substance globally and is frequently used in South and Southeast Asian countries, including Southeast China, Hainan Island, India, Taiwan, and the Pacific Islands, and immigrants from these regions in Africa, Europe, and North America. The use of these products results in mucosal alterations with varied clinical presentation of Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMDs) and OC. We discuss here the different types of OPMD and OC, the diagnostic aids and their relevance in clinical practice, and factors that influence their prognosis.

Automatic Detection of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma from Histopathological Images of Oral Mucosa Using Deep Convolutional Neural Network.

Worldwide, oral cancer is the sixth most common type of cancer. India is in 2nd position, with the highest number of oral cancer patients. To the population of oral cancer patients, India contributes to almost one-third of the total count. Among several types of oral cancer, the most common and dominant one is oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The major reason for oral cancer is tobacco consumption, excessive alcohol consumption, unhygienic mouth condition, betel quid eating, viral infection (namely human papillomavirus), etc. The early detection of oral cancer type OSCC, in its preliminary stage, gives more chances for better treatment and proper therapy. In this paper, author proposes a convolutional neural network model, for the automatic and early detection of OSCC, and for experimental purposes, histopathological oral cancer images are considered. The proposed model is compared and analyzed with state-of-the-art deep learning models like VGG16, VGG19, Alexnet, ResNet50, ResNet101, Mobile Net and Inception Net. The proposed model achieved a cross-validation accuracy of 97.82%, which indicates the suitability of the proposed approach for the automatic classification of oral cancer data.

Harnessing insect olfactory neural circuits for detecting and discriminating human cancers

There is overwhelming evidence that presence of cancer alters cellular metabolic processes, and these changes are manifested in emitted volatile organic compound (VOC) compositions of cancer cells. Here, we take a novel forward engineering approach by developing an insect olfactory neural circuit-based VOC sensor for cancer detection. We obtained oral cancer cell culture VOC-evoked extracellular neural responses from in vivo insect (locust) antennal lobe neurons. We employed biological neural computations of the antennal lobe circuitry for generating spatiotemporal neuronal response templates corresponding to each cell culture VOC mixture, and employed these neuronal templates to distinguish oral cancer cell lines (SAS, Ca9-22, and HSC-3) vs. a non-cancer cell line (HaCaT). Our results demonstrate that three different human oral cancers can be robustly distinguished from each other and from a non-cancer oral cell line. By using high-dimensional population neuronal response analysis and leave-one-trial-out methodology, our approach yielded high classification success for each cell line tested. Our analyses achieved 76–100% success in identifying cell lines by using the population neural response (n = 194) collected for the entire duration of the cell culture study. We also demonstrate this cancer detection technique can distinguish between different types of oral cancers and non-cancer at different time-matched points of growth. This brain-based cancer detection approach is fast as it can differentiate between VOC mixtures within 250 ms of stimulus onset. Our brain-based cancer detection system comprises a novel VOC sensing methodology that incorporates entire biological chemosensory arrays, biological signal transduction, and neuronal computations in a form of a forward-engineered technology for cancer VOC detection.

Deep transfer learning techniques with hybrid optimization in early prediction and diagnosis of different types of oral cancer

Deep transfer learning techniques with hybrid optimization in early prediction and diagnosis of different types of oral cancer

The expression of EGFR and clinicopathological parameters in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs) are the most prevalent types of oral cancers. There are a variety of clinicopathological characteristics of these types. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is an essential diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic marker of OSCCs. The purpose of the research is to analyze the immunohistochemical expression of EGFR in OSCCs and to correlate its expression with clinical measures. Materials and Methods: The present research included 44 histopathologically confirmed oral squamous cell carcinoma lesions. EGFR expression was determined by using immunohistochemical technique. The spss program version (20.0) was used to correlate the expressions EGFR with the clinical and histopathological parameters. Results: 25 (57%) were men, while 19 (43%) were women. Most lesions 14(31%) cases were on the buccal mucosa. The palate had the lowest incidence rate 3(6.8%) cases. The highest frequency of OSCC was in well-differentiated samples with 23 (52.3) cases. 15 (34.1%) instances had a poor EGFR score (+1), 17 (38.6%) cases had a moderate score (+2), and 8 (18.2%) had a high score (+3). Except for tumor grade (P = 0.001), none of the studied factors were correlated with EGFR expression. Conclusion: EGFR has prognostic value and is a good target for therapeutic applications in these tumors. More research needs to be done to see if EGFR levels can be used as a marker of prognosis and a predictor of tumor recurrence in other ways.

Oral cancer awareness and knowledge: Survey of dentists in Democratic Republic of the Congo

Oral cancer (OC) is one of the global diseases that is the eighth rank among different others. Early intervention therapy had a positive impact on increasing the prognosis and the survival rate up to 5 years. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of dentists about OC in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Materiel and MethodsIt was a cross-sectional analytical survey conducted in the primary oral health care centers in DR. Congo from February to April 2021. Only dentists working at any of the primary oral health care centers, public or private was included. Data were collected by using a survey of a 33-item questionnaire. The practice level, knowledge, risk factors, diagnosis for OC, attitude, and opinions of the dentists were recorded and evaluated. The SPSS 20 was used for data analysis and P < 0.05 was considered significant. ResultsOut of 162 dentists recorded, 65.4% were male and 34.6% were females. Half of the dentists (50.6%) had more than 5–15 years of practical experience, and 81.5% of the participants were general practice dentists. A majority of dentists were not familiar with the proper physical oral examination steps (80.2%). The practice level of the dentists was highly poor. The knowledge level about clinical features and diagnostic procedures (frequent anatomical region, common type of OC, associated factor with OC, frequent stage diagnosis of OC, and condition associated with OC) was very low. The dentists’ gender was associated with a poor level of practice (P = 0.009). However, the age experience of work was associated with the high knowledge of the clinical presentation of oral cancer (P = 0.040). ConclusionThe dentists in DRC have obvious problems in the knowledge of OC diagnosis. More continued education and training programs for dentists would serve to address the knowledge deficits and practice shortcomings about oral cancer screening, prevention, and early detection

Epidemiology and types of oral cancer

Oral cancer is a subset of head and neck cancer and usually refers to different neoplastic conditions that impact any tissue within the oral cavity. Evidence shows that these malignancies are associated with different complications over the affected patients. The present literature review will discuss the epidemiology and types of oral cancer based on evidence from relevant studies within the literature. Estimates show that oral cancer is a common condition with high prevalence rates globally. However, we have identified several factors across the different relevant investigations, including smoking, alcohol intake, age, socioeconomic status, immunocompromised state, and genetics. This might explain the inconsistent findings regarding the prevalence and mortality rates of the conditions among worldwide studies. Moreover, squamous cells carcinoma is the commonest type of oral cancer. However, other types might also be identified as adenocarcinoma, sarcoma, melanoma, and lymphoma. These lesions can also be found at different places within the mouth cavity, including lips, tongue, and salivary glands. Therefore, healthcare authorities should plan adequate interventional strategies targeting the risk factors to properly control the disease and reduce its burden.

Propofol induces apoptosis and ameliorates 5‑fluorouracil resistance in OSCC cells by reducing the expression and secretion of amphiregulin

Among the different types of oral cancer, >90% of cases are oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is a commonly used treatment for OSCC, but cells typically display resistance to the drug. Propofol, an intravenous anesthetic agent, exhibits certain anticancer effects, including the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Secreted proteins, such as growth factors and cytokines are involved in cancer development and progression, but the effect of propofol on secreted proteins in OSCC is not completely understood. An MTT assay, flow cytometry and western blotting were performed to determine the anticancer effects of propofol. The secretion profile of OSCC was determined using an antibody array, and clinical importance was assessed using the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis database. The results were verified by performing reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and western blotting. 5-FU-resistant cells were established to determine the role of the gene of interest in drug resistance. The results demonstrated that propofol decreased cell viability and promoted cell apoptosis. The antibody array results showed that propofol attenuated the secretion of multiple growth factors. The bioinformatics results indicated that amphiregulin (AREG) was expressed at significantly higher levels in cancer tissues, which was also related to poor prognosis. The results of RT-qPCR and western blotting revealed that propofol decreased AREG expression. Pretreatment with exogenous recombinant AREG increased EGFR activation and conferred propofol resistance. Moreover, the results indicated that the expression and activation of AREG was also related to 5-FU resistance, but propofol ameliorated 5-FU drug resistance. Therefore, the present study suggested that propofol combination therapy may serve as an effective treatment strategy for OSCC.

Trichosanthin cooperates with Granzyme B to restrain tumor formation in tongue squamous cell carcinoma

BackgroundTongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) is a common type of oral cancer, with a relatively poor prognosis and low post-treatment survival rate. Various strategies and novel drugs to treat TSCC are emerging and under investigation. Trichosanthin (TCS), extracted from the root tubers of Tian-Hua-Fen, has been found to have multiple biological and pharmacological functions, including inhibiting the growth of cancer cells. Granzyme B (GrzB) is a common toxic protein secreted by natural killer cells and cytotoxic T cells. Our group has reported that TCS combined with GrzB might be a superior approach to inhibit liver tumor progression, but data relating to the use of this combination to treat TSCC remain limited. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of TCS on TSCC processes and underlying mechanisms.MethodsFirst, we screened the potential antitumor activity of TCS using two types of SCC cell lines. Subsequently, a subcutaneous squamous cell carcinoma xenograft model in nude mice was established. These model mice were randomly divided into four groups and treated as follows: control group, TCS treatment group, GrzB treatment group, and TCS/GrzB combination treatment group. Various tumorigenesis parameters, such as Ki67, PCNA, caspase-3, Bcl-2 and VEGFA, et al., were performed to determine the effects of these treatments on tumor development.ResultsScreening confirmed that the SCC25 line exhibited greater sensitivity than the SCC15 line to TCS in vitro studies. TCS or GrzB treatment significantly inhibited tumor growth compared with the inhibition seen in the control group. The TCS/GrzB combination inhibited tumor growth more than either drug alone. TCS treatment inhibited tumor proliferation by downregulating Ki67 and Bcl2 protein expression while accelerating tumor apoptosis. In the TCS/GrzB-treated group, expression of Ki67 was further downregulated, while the level of activated caspase-3 was increased, compared with their expression in either of the single drug treatment groups.ConclusionThese results suggest that the TCS/GrzB combination could represent an effective immunotherapy for TSCC.

Real-time evaluation of swallowing in patients with oral cancers by using cine-magnetic resonance imaging based on T2-weighted sequences

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a new cine-magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) technique might be useful for evaluating swallowing function in patients with different types of oral cancers by assessing 12 CMRI-related parameters. In total, 111 patients with oral cancers were evaluated. We examined whether visualization of fluid flow and determination of flow direction to the trachea or the esophagus were possible with CMRI. We evaluated the correlations between CMRI-related parameters and self-reported dysphagia scores as the status of dysphagia, T classification groups as tumor staging for preoperative patients, alterations in CMRI-related parameters between pre- and postoperative patients, and the degree of invasiveness of oral cancer surgery. We could judge the flow direction to the esophagus on CMRI in all 111 patients. Six CMRI-related parameters showed significant correlations with dysphagia status. Increases in CMRI-related parameters were significantly related to deterioration of swallowing status, as shown by a decrease in self-reported dysphagia scores, advances in the T classification, and degree of invasiveness of oral cancer surgery. The results of the present study suggest that CMRI can be used to directly visualize swallowing dynamics and objectively evaluate the swallowing complaints of patients with oral cancer.

IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOW-UP FOR LIP SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA: REPORT OF 2 CASES

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most frequent type of oral cancer. Lip SCC is associated with UV exposure during occupational activities. The objective of this study is to present 1 case of second primary SCC and 1 case of dysplasia after previous SCC on the lower lip. Case 1: A 29-year-old male patient was diagnosed with SCC in the lower lip and was referred to the oncologist. After 4 and a half years, he returned with a moderate dysplasia. Case 2: A 63 year-old-male patient was diagnosed with SCC of the lip and received treatment. After 3 years, he returned with a new primary SCC on the opposite side of the lip. Usually patients with SCC on the lips present actinic cheilitis, which need to be periodically followed up to diagnose early potential new areas of SCC or dysplasia as illustrated in these reports.

Next generation sequencing identifies novel diagnostic biomarkers for head and neck cancers

Salivary microRNAs (miRNAs) could potentially serve as biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of various types of oral cancer but the significance of it is yet to be fully elucidated. This article reports our study results on the role of salivary miRNAs and their potential use as biomarkers in head and neck cancer (HNC) diagnosis with an emphasis on oral cancers (OC). Supernatant saliva samples from 24 subjects, including 12 OC patients and 12 healthy individuals as a control group, were initially profiled using next generation sequencing (NGS). A novel miR-7703 was further validated in 160 samples collected from OC patients (n = 80) and controls (n = 80) by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assays. Data analysis revealed that 373 miRNA expressions were significantly decreased and 265 miRNA expressions were significantly increased in patients with OC (p ≤ 0.05). Of the 638 miRNA, twenty-seven were non-redundant miRNAs associated with OC (p ≤ 0.0001). Validation of the novel miR-7703 showed a significant increase in the OC group when compared to the control group. Most importantly, this pattern of increased expression was also positively correlated with tumour stage, lymph node metastasis status, and clinical stage. This study identified twenty-seven non-redundant, differentially expressed miRNAs associated with OC. These signatures include a number of novel miRNAs as well as those that have been previously reported in either oral or other cancers. However, miR-7703 is a previously uncharacterised miRNA with the potential to be a significant biomarker for the diagnosis of OC.

Oral cancer and potentially malignant disorders: a 12-year epidemiological and clinical analysis in a metropolitan region of northeastern Brazil

To perform an epidemiological and clinical analysis of cases of oral cancer (OC) and potentially malignant disorders (PMDs). This retrospective study was based on the analysis of data from 631 patients who attended a clinic of the Interdisciplinary League of Oral Cancer (LINCCO) of a public university of northeastern Brazil over a time period of 12 years. Sociodemographic, economic, and clinical variables were investigated. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate statistical analyses using Poisson regression were performed. During the analyzed period, 19.3% (n = 122) of cases were related to diagnoses of some type of OC or PMDs. The majority of patients were male (60.7%) and in the fifth (22.0%) or sixth (23.7%) decades of life. The reported smoking and alcohol consumption were 27.0% and 27.9%, respectively. The most prevalent lesions were actinic cheilitis (48.4%) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (23.8%). The most affected anatomical region was the lower lip (45.1%). The prevalence of smoking was higher among those who presented with OC [prevalence ratio (PR) = 2.56, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.54–4.24, p < 0.001)] compared to those who presented with a PMD. Public health managers and the scientific community should continue to direct efforts to raise public awareness about protective and preventive measures for OC and PMDs, including early diagnosis and frequent visits to the dentist. Otherwise, the rates of these injuries may continue to grow exponentially, significantly impacting the health indicators of the population.

Prostatic adenocarcinoma with mandibular metastasis

Metastatic lesions of primary tumors comprise almost 1% of different types of oral cancers. These lesions can affect either bones or soft tissues in the maxillofacial region. Whenever the maxillofacial area is affected, the most common location is in the molar region of the mandible. A 70-year-old male patient, presented with swelling in the jaw region, of acute onset. Clinical, radiological, and histological examinations were carried out. Finally, it was diagnosed to be a metastatic lesion in the jaw, with the primary lesion being in the prostate gland. The clinical presentation of mandibular metastasis follows a pattern characterized by irradiated dental pain in the third molar region. Differential diagnosis and treatment of these patients can be extremely difficult because there are several pathologic conditions with similar symptoms.

Platelet rich plasma (PRP) induces autophagy in osteoblast precursor 3T3-L1

Autophagy is an essential cellular homeostatic mechanism by which intracellular components are delivered into the lysosomes for degradation and recycling. Autophagy has been related with a diversity of pathological or physiological dentary processes such as bone remodeling, skeletal aging, osteoclastogenesis, osteoblastogenesis and different types of oral cancer. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP), isolated from autologous blood, is a plasma preparation containing a higher concentration of platelets which contains numerous different growth factors and cytokines that activate several cellular signaling cascades. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of PRP on autophagy stimulation in both osteoblast precursor 3T3-L1 and non-related osteoblastic cells. Our results showed that PRP can increase the number of autophagic structures in 3T3-L1 and HeLa (cervical cancer cells) cells. Moreover, we have determined by Western blot a rise in the lipidated form of the autophagic protein LC3 (i.e. LC3-II) upon PRP treatment. Taken together, our results suggest that PRP is able to induce a strongly autophagy response in osteoblast precursor and, to a lesser extent, in non-related osteoblastic cells, suggesting that PRP could be a potential therapeutic tool for some autophagy-related diseases associated with bone homeostasis.

Effects of Paan Extracts on Periodontal Ligament and Osteosarcoma Cells

Oral cancer is a subset of head and neck cancer. There are various types of oral cancers, including cancer of the periodontal ligament (PDL) and osteosarcoma (OS) of jawbones. In South Asian countries, the major cause of oral cancer is reported to be chewing paan, or betel leaf daubed with slaked lime paste and areca nut. To investigate how paan may contribute to the onset of cancer, we evaluated how treating cells with areca nut extract, betel leaf extract, or lime (better known as calcium hydroxide) affected cell proliferation and cell death. Two oral cell lines were treated with solutions of areca nut, young betel leaf, old betel leaf, and lime, either individually or in combination, and we evaluated cell survival and cell growth. While treatment with old betal leaf alone caused marginal slowing of cell growth of both PDL and OS cell lines (12 ± 4% and 10 ± 10%, respectively), effects of young betal leaf and lime on cell growth were minor. Treatment with areca nut caused no significant change in PDL (10 ± 10%), but an increase in cell number for OS (37 ± 19%). Extract combinations of either young or old betal leaf with areca nut and lime resulted in increased cell proliferation of PDL and OS. These initial results indicate that the enhancement of cell growth by areca nut can overcome potential growth inhibition by betal leaf, suggesting that areca nut may promote cell growth. These data warrant further investigation of the effect of areca nut exposure on the onset of oral cancer in humans.

Downregulation of Notch4 - a prognostic marker in distinguishing oral verrucous carcinoma from oral squamous cell carcinoma.

IntroductionOral verrucous carcinoma is a special form of well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma which possesses specific clinical, morphologic and cytokinetic features that differ from other types of oral cancers and hence diagnosis requires immense experience in histopathology. Hence it is certainly important to distinguish such a lesion from other oral tumors as treatment strategies vary widely between them.ObjectiveIn search of a critical diagnostic marker in distinguishing oral verrucous carcinoma from oral squamous cell carcinoma, Notch4 receptor, one of the key regulatory molecules of the Notch signaling family has been aberrantly activated in the progression of several types of tumors. However its function in oral verrucous carcinoma remains unexplored. Thus the present study aims in determining the differential expression pattern of Notch4 in oral verrucous carcinoma and oral squamous cell carcinoma.MethodsTen patients reported positive for oral cancer (5 patients with oral verrucous carcinoma and 5 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma). Five normal tissue samples were also obtained and evaluated for clinicopathological parameters and immunohistochemistry, western blotting and real time polymerase chain reaction for Notch4 expression.ResultsOur results reveal that the expression of Notch4 was considerably high in oral squamous cell carcinoma lesions compared to normal tissue, whereas in oral verrucous carcinoma, irrespective of the clinicopathological features, complete regulação descendente of Notch4 was observed.ConclusionsThese preliminary findings strongly support the fact that Notch4 is downregulated in oral verrucous carcinoma and could be considered as a suitable prognostic marker in distinguishing oral verrucous carcinoma from oral squamous cell carcinoma. This distinguishing marker can help in improving therapeutic options in patients diagnosed with oral verrucous carcinoma.

Abstract 2425: Delving into molecular phenomena of methylation, polyadenylation and mutation suggests their importance in regulating gene expression in GBSCC

Abstract Background: Gingivo-buccal squamous cell carcinoma (GBSCC) is one of the most prevalent types of oral cancers in India. Although whole exome studies in oral cancer have reported somatic mutational driver genes, studies on methylation, mutations and alternative polyadenylation (APA) to identify differentially expressed transcripts and exons, respectively, are rare. The aim of our study is to investigate possible causes of expression deregulation due to methylation, APA or mutations. Methods: Whole transcriptome data was generated from 12 tumor-normal paired GBSCC tissues and analyzed for differential gene expression, differential exon usage and predicting APA site. Whole exome sequencing was performed with same sample set and the data was analyzed to identify somatic mutations. Reduced representation of bisulphate sequencing (RRBS) was also done for some of these samples to inquire about the methylation status of deregulated genes. Results: A total of 465 genes were found to have differential exon usage in tumor leading to expression of different isoforms and change in overall gene expression. About 194 genes were predicted to utilize alternate polyadenylation site in tumors. Amongst these, 11 genes including ERBB3, CDC25B and LTBP4 were shown to have differential exon usage in tumor with altered gene expression hinting upon the influence of polyadenylation in expression change. From the exome sequencing study, 180 SNVs and 11 indel somatic mutations per sample were observed. Apart from other non-silent exonic mutations at TP53, CASP8, DIS3 and DLG1, splice site mutations were also found in 37 and 4 genes due to point and indel mutations respectively. Genes such as TPM3, NBN, CXCL12 along with others showed differential exon usage and were found to harbor somatic mutations and APA site. This suggests for coupled regulation by APA and mutation in altering expression of those genes. Apart from this, a subset of deregulated genes (n=54) were observed to have differential methylation in tumors. Expression change of TAP1, SLN, ELN etc. corroborated with their methylation status suggesting the influence of methylation in regulating expression of these genes. Conclusion: Differential exon usage suggested different transcript formation leading to overall change in gene expression in tumor. Upon excavating into the regulatory causes, a subset of genes showed change in methylation pattern while few others showed change in APA site with/without somatic mutation effect. These molecular phenomena explain how different mechanisms are involved in expression deregulation of genes observed in GBSCC which would help in further functional research for cure of the disease. Citation Format: Richa Singh, Esita Chattopadhyay, Roshni Roy, Bidyut Roy. Delving into molecular phenomena of methylation, polyadenylation and mutation suggests their importance in regulating gene expression in GBSCC [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2425. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2425

Tanshinones in management of oral submucous fibrosis and oral squamous cell carcinoma

Oral submucous fibrosis is a premalignant condition predominantly occurring in Southeast Asian countries. Oral squamous cell carcinoma is the most common type of oral cancer. The current article highlights the promising benefits of the novel agent tanshinones (TSNs) in the management of oral submucous fibrosis and oral squamous cell carcinoma. The letter is written with the aim to promote more research on TSNs in the management of oral submucous fibrosis and oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Knowledge of Brazilian Dentists about Oral Cancer

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge level of dentists about oral cancer (OC) in Campina Grande, Paraiba, Brazil. Material and Methods: It was an observational, transversal, descriptive and analytical study. It was applied 200 structured forms. The sample was chosen for convenience. Statistical associations were performed using the Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests (P<0.05). Results: Of the 200 interviewed dentists, 66% (n=132) were women, the prevalent age group was 21-40 years (49.5%), 47% work at the private sector and 39% concluded their graduation 20 years ago. Oral squamous cell carcinoma was cited as the most common histopathologic type of OC (65.5%), and the most common anatomical site of OC was tongue (53.4%). The main risk factors cited for the developing of OC were licit and/or illicit drugs (99%), heredity (75.9%), dental problems (74.9%) and sun exposure (74.4%). There was a significant statistically association between the variables tobacco and/or alcohol use and gender of the dentists (P=0.001), between the knowledge level about OC and its histopathologic type and the more affected anatomical site (p=0.012 and p=0.034, respectively). Conclusion: The level of knowledge of dentists about OC is still insufficient for the performance of early diagnosis. Therefore, further discussions about this theme in dentistry schools should be conducted in order to train qualified professionals for this type of diagnosis.