Abstract
Oral cancer is a common malignancy in Nepal and many other South East Asian countries, which is predisposed by a variety of potentially malignant oral diseases. Considering the importance of knowledge of health professionals and their role in early diagnosis and reduction of cancer statistics, this study aims to evaluate the awareness of undergraduate dental and medical students towards oral cancer. The study involved undergraduate dental and medical students of BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Nepal. A self-administered questionnaire adapted from Carter to Ogden was distributed. One hundred forty-three dental and 311 medical students responded to the questionnaire. Significantly more dental (80.4 %) than medical students (36.0 %) were found to routinely examine the oral mucosa. Tobacco smoking and chewing were the most commonly recognized risk factors by both medical and dental students. Most of the students found ulcer as the common change associated with oral cancer. Only 30 out of the total students felt very well informed about oral cancer. This study has demonstrated a lack of awareness in some aspects of oral cancer among medical and dental students which highlights the need to frame new teaching methodologies. Similar studies from other health institutions would provide an insight regarding the same and could be a base for formulating a uniform curriculum in the implementation of knowledge regarding oral cancer.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Subedi S, Sharma P (2013) Cancer treatment in Nepal: a historical background, development of treatment facilities, epidemiology and challenges for prevention and control of cancer. Asustral - Asian J Cancer 81:205–212
Ferlay J, Shin HR, Bray F et al (2012) Estimated cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence worldwide in 2012. International Agency for Research on Cancer. WHO. http://globocan.iarc.fr/Default.aspx. GLOBOCAN 2012. Accessed 26th July 2015
GLOBOCAN 2012 v1.0, Cancer incidence and mortality worldwide; IARC Cancer Base No. 11 [Internet]. International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2013. http://globocan.iarc.fr. (Accessed 30 June 2015
Betel-quid and areca-nut chewing and some arecanut- derived nitrosamines (2004) IARC working group. Lyon, 11–18 June 2003. IARC Monogr Eval Carcinog Risk Hum 85:1–300
Blot WJ, McLaughlin JKWD et al (1988) Smoking and drinking in relation to oral and pharyngeal cancer. Cancer Res 48:3282–3287
van der Waal I (2013) Are we able to reduce the mortality and morbidity of oral cancer; some considerations. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal 18:e33–e37
Yellowitz JAGH (1995) Assessing physicians’ and dentists’ oral cancer knowledge, opinions and practices. J Am Dent Assoc 126:53–60
Yellowitz JA, Horowitz AMDT et al (2000) Survey of U.S. dentists’ knowledge and opinions about oral pharyngeal cancer. J Am Dent Assoc 131:653–661
Carter LM, Ogden GR (2007) Oral cancer awareness of general medical and general dental practitioners. Br Dent J 203:E10
Rankin KV, Jones DLMR (1996) Oral cancer education in dental schools: survey of Texas dental students. J Cancer Educ 11:80–83
Schnetler JF (1992) Oral cancer diagnosis and delays in referral. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg 30:210–213
Carter LM, Ogden GR (2007) Oral cancer awareness of undergraduate medical and dental students. BMC Med Educ 7:44
Goodman HS, Yellowitz JAHA (1995) Oral cancer prevention. The role of family practitioners. Arch Fam Med 4:628–636
Nagao T (2015) Tobacco and alcohol misuse and risk of oral cancer. 6th Hiroshima Conf Educ Sci Dent BioDental Educ Res Towar next 50 years. pp 132–6
Makhdoom S, Late A (2012) Assessing oral cancer knowledge among dental students, house officers as well as faculty members of Khyber College of Dentistry, Peshawar, Pakistan. JKCD 2:7–10
Warnakulasuriya KA, Harris CK, Scarrott DM et al (1999) An alarming lack of public awareness towards oral cancer. Br Dent J 187:319–322
Diajil AR (2013) Awareness and knowledge of oral cancer among final year undergraduate dental students in Baghdad-Iraq. J Bagh Coll Dent 25:69–79
Non communicable diseases risk factors: STEPS Survey Nepal (2013) Nepal Heal Res Counc STEPS Surv Nepal
World Health Organization (2000) Addressing the worldwide tobacco epidemic through effective evidence-based treatment. Expert meeting March 1999. Tobacco Free Initiative, WHO, Rochester
Rikard-Bell G, Groenlund CWJ (2003) Australian dental students’ views about smoking cessation counseling and their skills as counselors. J Public Health Dent 63:200–206
Scully C (2014) Challenges in predicting which oral mucosal potentially malignant disease will progress to neoplasia. Oral Dis 20:1–5
Hollows P, Mcandrew PG, Perini MG (2000) Delays in the referral and treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Br Dent J 188:3–6
Bachelors of Medicine Bachelors of Surgery- Curriculum (2013) Second version. BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan
Bachelors of Dental Surgery- Curriculum (2014) Second version. BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank all the students for their participation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shrestha, A., Marla, V., Shrestha, S. et al. Awareness of Undergraduate Dental and Medical Students Towards Oral Cancer. J Canc Educ 32, 778–783 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1023-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1023-4