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349826

Oral Cancer Knowledge in Medical and Pharmacy Students: Are we on the right track?

Article

Last updated: 24 Dec 2024

Subjects

-

Tags

Oral Pathology

Abstract

Introduction: Annually, there is increasing number of oral cancer cases that have been misdiagnosed or overlooked which negatively impact the patient's outcome. Several factors contribute to such phenomenon, of which lack of oral cancer awareness among health care providers is the most important. Objective: This study aimed to assess level of oral cancer knowledge among medical and pharmacy students since they represent an integral part of the oral health care system in Egypt. Also, to determine the need of planning future intervention programs. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed via delivering anonymous questionnaires to the students. The questionnaire was designed to gather demographic data and basic knowledge regarding incidence of oral cancer, most known clinical features, importance of oral mucosal screening, prior oral cancer education and motivation toward learning more about oral cancer. Results: The most widely known cancer (87.7%) was breast cancer (n = 243) whereas oral cancer was reported by only 9.7% of participants (n = 27). Medical students were generally more knowledgeable than pharmacy students with significant differences (p < 0.05) observed in identifying some risk factors as well as tongue and leukoplakia as preferred site and early sign respectively. Conclusions: The role of medical and pharmacy students as future contributors to public health message should be emphasized via designing educational curricula that better teach students about burden, risk factors, early signs, and screening modalities of oral cancer.

DOI

10.21608/adjc.2023.204207.1285

Keywords

oral cancer, Awareness, early detection, Students, Egypt

Authors

First Name

Basant

Last Name

AbouZaid

MiddleName

H

Affiliation

Oral Pathology Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

Email

basant_abozeed@dent.tanta.edu.eg

City

Tanta

Orcid

0000-0003-2503-7136

First Name

Nora

Last Name

Shalaby

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Oral Pathology Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

Email

nora_shalaby@dent.tanta.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

0000-0003-1637-1781

First Name

Yomna

Last Name

Saleh

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Oral Pathology Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

Email

youmna_saleh@dent.tanta.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

0000-0001-7172-3909

First Name

Aya

Last Name

Hamzawy

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Oral Pathology Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

Email

aya.hamzawy@dent.tanta.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

0000-0001-8905-9022

First Name

Tamer

Last Name

Hifnawy

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Public Health and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Beni Suef University, Beni Suef, Egypt

Email

thifnawy@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

0000-0001-6490-3899

First Name

Heba

Last Name

Youssef

MiddleName

EM

Affiliation

Oral Pathology Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

Email

heba.youssif@dent.tanta.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

0000-0001-8482-3896

Volume

6

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

46986

Issue Date

2024-04-01

Receive Date

2023-04-05

Publish Date

2024-04-01

Page Start

262

Page End

270

Print ISSN

2636-302X

Online ISSN

2636-3038

Link

https://adjc.journals.ekb.eg/article_349826.html

Detail API

https://adjc.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=349826

Order

349,826

Type

Original Article

Type Code

688

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Advanced Dental Journal

Publication Link

https://adjc.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Oral Cancer Knowledge in Medical and Pharmacy Students: Are we on the right track?

Details

Type

Article

Created At

24 Dec 2024