Assessing oral cancer early detection: clarifying dentists' practices

Area of Science:

• Oral health
• Dental diagnostics
• Cancer screening

Background:

• Early detection of oral cancer is crucial for improving patient outcomes.
• Assessing the thoroughness of dental examinations for oral cancer is essential for identifying best practices.
• Variability in clinical practice can impact the effectiveness of early detection efforts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate methods for assessing dentists' practices in oral cancer early detection examinations.
• To clarify practice behaviors related to oral cancer screening.
• To identify factors that facilitate thorough oral cancer examinations and evaluate different examination procedures.

Main Methods:

• A 38-item survey was distributed to dentists in a western US dental practice group.
• 102 dentists responded, and data were used to create an Oral Cancer Knowledge scale and an Oral Cancer Examination Thoroughness scale.
• Scales were calculated based on general knowledge and reported usage/frequency of examination procedures.

Main Results:

• Nearly all respondents were general dentists (90%), with a median graduation year of 1994.
• Mean Oral Cancer Knowledge score was 10.4 (range 5-14), and mean Thoroughness of Examination score was 11.34 (range 0-20).
• Knowledge and thoroughness scores were not statistically correlated (r = -0.015, P = 0.883). Recency of continuing education was associated with knowledge (P = 0.0284) and marginally with thoroughness (P = 0.075).

Conclusions:

• This study highlights significant variability in dentists' knowledge and the thoroughness of their oral cancer examinations.
• The developed scales serve as valuable tools for future research into oral cancer early detection in clinical settings.
• Further research can utilize these scales to understand and improve early detection strategies in dental practice.