Oral cancer screening in private dental practices in a developing country: opportunities and challenges

Saleh, Amyza; Kong, Yink Heay; Haron, Nabihah; Aripin, Siti Fatimah; Vadiveloo, Malliga; Hussaini, Haizal Mohd; Zain, Rosnah Binti; Cheong, Sok Ching

doi:10.1111/cdoe.12266

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…With increasing knowledge and skill, practitioners are more likely to be confident in screening and providing advice. Another challenge is prioritising implementation of such practices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Gunjal

Pateel

Lim

et al. 2020

International Dental Journal

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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.

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“…With increasing knowledge and skill, practitioners are more likely to be confident in screening and providing advice. Another challenge is prioritising implementation of such practices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Gunjal

Pateel

Lim

et al. 2020

International Dental Journal

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“…In high-income countries like the United States, the role of the dental team in opportunistic screening cannot be underestimated [25][26][27]. However, in developing countries, there is a poor benefit to the population with a lack of access to care and those who attend primary dental care clinics irregularly [28].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Preliminary Study on Early Detection of Oral Cancer with Opportunistic Screening: Insights from Dental Surgeons in Sri Lanka

Dissanayaka,

Wijeratne,

Amarasinghe

et al. 2023

Cancers

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In Sri Lanka, opportunistic screening is encouraged as a cost-effective tool to bring down the prevalence of oral cancer, which is the most common cancer among males. The objectives of the study were to determine the practices, attitudes, and level of competency of dental surgeons regarding the early detection of oral cancer and oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) through opportunistic screening. A prospective study was conducted online via a Google form using a pretested, self-administered questionnaire of 22 close-ended questions and 3 open-ended questions. Out of the 137 dental surgeons who responded, 88% (121/137) of the participants believed that screening high-risk target groups would be more effective in the early detection of oral cancer rather than opportunistic screening. Only 64% (88/137) of the participants frequently check for oral cancer and OPMDs when patients visit for dental treatment. Participants recalled an average of 34 patients (4628/137) with clinically suspicious lesions being diagnosed during examination at general dental practice during the past year, and 98% (134/137) of the participants believed that they should receive additional training in order to identify and diagnose clinically suspicious oral OPMDs and oral cancer. Opportunistic screening in general dental practice as an oral-cancer prevention strategy is appreciable, but due emphasis should be given to other prevention strategies such as population screening and screening high-risk target groups. The level of confidence of general dental practitioners in the early detection of oral cancer has to be raised in order to achieve higher standards in oral cancer prevention through opportunistic screening.

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“…Given the role dental care professionals can play in the prevention and detection of OPC [ [33] , [34] , [35] ], the infrequent mention of dental care professionals in the public discourse on Twitter was discouraging. Discourse on Twitter may reflect hesitancy among dental care professionals in making vaccine recommendations for HPV [ 36 ] or providing screening for OPC [ 37 ]. As dental care professionals play a critical role in the early-stage detection of OPC [ 38 ], social media can be utilized as a venue to publicize the important roles dental care professionals play in OPC examination so that patients and dental care professionals can more openly and comfortably discuss HPV vaccine and OPC examinations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discourse about human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) on Twitter: Lessons for public health education about OPC and dental care

Chung¹,

Mustapha

Jiang

et al. 2022

Public Health in Practice

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Oral cancer screening in private dental practices in a developing country: opportunities and challenges

Cited by 9 publications

References 21 publications

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

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

A Preliminary Study on Early Detection of Oral Cancer with Opportunistic Screening: Insights from Dental Surgeons in Sri Lanka

Discourse about human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) on Twitter: Lessons for public health education about OPC and dental care

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