Assessing oral cancer awareness among dental and medical students of a Malaysian private university

Abstract

Objective: Dental and medical practitioners play a pivotal role in detecting early stages of oral cancers. Hence, future dental and medical practitioners need to have adequate knowledge of oral cancer. This study was conducted to assess the current level of knowledge, attitude and practices regarding oral cancer among dental and medical students of a Malaysian private university. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on third-, fourth-and final-year students of the dental and medical courses of MAHSA University, Malaysia. A total of 557 students participated in the survey. Oral cancer awareness, knowledge about risk factors, signs and symptoms of oral cancer, attitude and practices towards oral cancer were assessed using 43 questions. The questionnaire was pretested, and internal consistency, assessed using Cronbach's alpha, was acceptable (a > 0.7). The data were analysed using IBM SPSS version 21. The chi-square test was used to analyse the difference in oral cancer awareness between medical and dental students. Results: Among 557 participants, there were 351 (63%) medical students and 206 (37%) dental students. Based on the results obtained, dental students had a higher level of knowledge than medical students regarding oral cancer (P < 0.05). More than 90% of the dental students were able to identify smoking, alcohol consumption, betel quid chewing, human papilloma virus infection and exposure to radiation as risk factors associated with oral cancer compared to more than 50% of medical students (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Through education and training, awareness amongst medical students can be reinforced, which will promote early detection of precancerous lesions and oral cancers.

Oral cancer knowledge and practice among medical students: A cross-sectional study during the Syrian crisis

“…Smoking, viral infection and alcohol consumption were correctly named as risk factors OC by (95.3%), (69.4%), and (68.4%) of our students, respectively. This is in line with the results of similar studies conducted in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia [ 12 , 28 ]. In contrast, our participants were less aware about other risk factors such as old age (51.8%), sunlight (49.5%), hot and spicy food (41.2%), and low fiber diet (15.6%).…”

“…In contrast, our participants were less aware about other risk factors such as old age (51.8%), sunlight (49.5%), hot and spicy food (41.2%), and low fiber diet (15.6%). Similar misconceptions were noticed in other studies [ 24 , 28 ]. The high level of awareness of the dangers cigarette and tobacco smoking, alcohol abuse, and other health risks among medical students is an essential prerequisite for any tobacco and alcohol cessation campaigns targeted at the community.…”

“…Our study showed that 49.1% of the responders were aware of the association of HPV infections with OC development. However, a higher level of awareness was found in Nepal (83.5%) and Malaysia (53.7%) [ 14 , 28 ]. Data from the Health Information National Trends Survey revealed poor awareness about the relation between HPV and OC, with only 30% of the participants acknowledging this association [ 30 ].…”

Oral Health Awareness among International Dental and Medical Students at Lithuanian University of Health Sciences: a Cross-Sectional Study

“…This and another [32] studies found better knowledge toward oral cancer prevention among clinical dental students than preclinical dental students. On the contrary, medical students tended to have a better attitude towards oral cancer than dental students in our study, but not in Malaysia [34].…”

Medical education: can a single video-class intervention improve the diagnostic skills for oral ulcers?

“…In part, these may be attributed to the limited number of hours of regular lectures on these topics during the undergraduate course (Gunjal et al 2020; Mouradian et al 2006). Thus, the need to create opportunities to supply this knowledge is evident (Dancey and Reidy 2019; Gunjal et al 2020;Mouradian et al 2006;Shrestha et al 2017).…”