Knowledge of Dental Students about Erythroplakia as an Oral Potentially Malignant Disorder

Abstract

Background Erythroplakia is a rare oral potentially malignant disease (OPMD) lesion with prevalence ranging from 0.02 to 0.83%, but it has a higher possibility of malignant transformation, ranging from 14 to 50%. Early detection is crucial for better patient prognosis, but it is challenging for preclinical and clinical dental students to recognize erythroplakia. Objective The aim of this study was to identify the level of knowledge of dental students about erythroplakia as an OPMD lesion based on their academic level. Methods This analytical cross-sectional study used a simple randomized sampling design. Data were cross-tabulated to describe the knowledge of erythroplakia. Results In total, 167 respondents completed the questionnaire, with the majority of 130 (77.84%) being females and 65 (38.92%) were older than 21 years. The majority of respondents, 122 (73.05%), had moderate knowledge, while 31 (18.57%) had poor knowledge and 14 (8.38%) had good knowledge of erythroplakia in terms of etiology, predisposition factors, clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. Conclusion Most of the dental students included in the study had intermediate level of knowledge of erythroplakia as an OPMD lesion.