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.