Evaluation of General Dentists Knowledge about Oral Cancer in Mashhad-Iran

Oral cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers and one of the 10 most Familiar causes of death in the whole world. Most oral cancers are diagnosed at late stages. Since dentists play a critical role in early detection of oral cancers they should be knowledgeable and skillful in oral cancer diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of general dentists about oral cancer in Mashhad. This deh1ive cross-sectional study was done on 100 general dentists who had private offices in Mashhad in 2008. A questionnaire including demographic information and 13 questions regarding oral cancer was prepared. The questionnaires were delivered to dentists at their offices and then gathered. The data were analyzed via SPSS software by student’s t-test Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients. There were 65 male and 35 female dentists with the mean age of 41.84±7.49 years (P=0.66). The mean score of total dentists’ knowledge was 6.42±1.74 out of 13. The mean score of knowledge was 6.26±1.75 and 6.72±1.7 for males and females respectively. There was no significant difference between them (P=0.2). Ninety-One percent of dentists knew the most common type of oral cancer but only 35% of them knew the most common sites of oral cancer. The results of this study indicated that knowledge of dentists in Mashhad about oral cancer was not sufficient. Because of the importance of the issue application of strategies to increase the knowledge of dentists regarding oral cancer is necessary.