Oral Cancer Knowledge among Patients Referred to Mashhad Dental School, Iran

Background Early intervention improves treatment results in oral cancer The purpose of present study was to assess the level of awareness and knowledge about oral cancer among patients referred to Mashhad Dental School Methods Three hundred and twenty individuals completed a 15 item written questionnaire that focused on oral cancer risk factors signs and symptoms epidemiology and treatment Statistical analyses were performed with the Kruskal Wallis and Friedman tests (level of significance P=0 05) Results A total of 89 4% of patients who completed the questionnaire had a poor understanding of oral cancer particularly with regard to etiology Additionally 83 8% were unaware of oral cancer risk factors Only 8 8% knew the most likely sites for oral cancer No relation was identified between knowledge and sex (P=0 01) or age (P=0 052) of the subjects There was a significant correlation between the level of education and knowledge score (P<0 001) Medical students and health professionals had the highest knowledge scores (P<0 001) Conclusion According to the results of this study information regarding oral cancer knowledge is quite low Therefore it seems necessary to increase the level of public awareness with the use of various educational programs in order to reduce morbidity and mortality