Background: Oral cancer mainly affects individuals in the 6 th and 7 th decades of life with a history of risk factors like, smoking, tobacco chewing and alcohol consump tion. Early recognition and referral is essential for higher cure rates and better quality of life. Nursing staff provides the oral health care for patients in hospital. Admission to hospital provides a ''window of opportunity'' for oral cancer screening via an oral health checkup during nursing care. Objective: To measure awareness of risk factors, clinical signs and screening service for oral cancer among nursing students. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in two Nursing Colleges of Davangere city. The questionnaire consisted of 17 closed ended questions. The questionnaire was pre-tested and validated before administering. Results: Among 300 nursing students, 231 were females and 69 were males. Over 90% thought oral health checkups were important although only 69% performed oral examination regularly; approximately 90% identifi ed smoking and use of tobacco products as a risk factor but very few identifi ed other associated factors like alcohol. Only 55% of the respondents were aware about the most common site of occurrence of oral cancer. Only 49% recognized a non healing ulcer as a sign of oral cancer. Over 90% of the students felt that a nursing student needs more education about screening for oral cancer and were willing to participate in a network to promote early screening for oral cancer. Conclusion: This study revealed that nurses' awareness of oral cancer risk factors and clinical signs, in the group under study was, however, poor. This study highlights a need for improved education of nurses on oral cancer to make the oral health checkup on admission viable for oral cancer screening.

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Background: Injury to both, primary and the permanent dentitions and their supporting structures is one of the most common dental problems seen in children. Studies on dental trauma have shown that most dental accidents in children occur at home, followed by school. The prognosis of traumatized teeth depends on prompt and appropriate treatment, which often relies on people such as the child's parents and school teachers who are present at the site of accident, prior to the initial dental contact, and who may have only little information about the prompt steps that need to be taken incase such a traumatic injury occurs. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge of upper primary and secondary school Physical Education instructors in Davangere city, India, about emergency management of dental trauma. Materials and Methods: A total of 109 physical education instructors from 87 upper primary and secondary schools were included in the questionnaire based survey. Results: Majority of the respondents said that their training included first aid training. Only 10.1% recalled that their course covered management of dental trauma. Although about 70% of the respondents were aware about management of fractured tooth, the knowledge regarding avulsed tooth was poor. Vast majority of the respondents felt that they required further training to manage such trauma cases. Over 70% of teachers indicated that it was urgent to seek professional help for tooth avulsion; however, they had little knowledge regarding correct procedures for replanting and storing avulsed tooth. Conclusion: Although the upper primary and secondary school physical education teachers in Davangere city had good knowledge of first aid, the knowledge on management of dental trauma remained inadequate.

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