Oral cancer awareness and attitude toward its screening among health-care practitioners in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Oral cancer (OC) is a major health problem globally; it is the sixth-most common cancer worldwide, affecting anywhere in the oral cavity and associated with multiple risk factors, including the awareness and practices from medical and dental practitioners regarding OC. Aim: This study aims to explore the level of awareness of medical and dental practitioners regarding OC and attitude toward its screening in Saudi Arabia, Madinah. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between December 2020 and March 2021 among medical and dental students, interns, and practitioners in Madinah. A total of 265 participants were included in the survey. Data were collected and statistically analyzed and the significance level was set at (P < 0.05). Results and Discussion: About 86.9% of the participants were belongs to the dental field, while 13.6% were from the medical field. Half of the respondents (50.2%) were not sure if they feel confident regarding their knowledge concerning the prevention and detection of OC. About 53.8% indicated that they usually do not perform OC screening. However, 88.7% of the respondents are willing to know more information about OC. Dental practitioners were significantly feeling more confident in their knowledge concerning the prevention and detection of OC (P = 0.001). However, a higher number of medical practitioners (44.4%) indicated that they were poorly informed about OC clinical appearances (P = 0.001). Conclusion: This study highlighted the importance of improving knowledge and awareness of medical and dental practitioners regarding OC in Madinah Western Saudi Arabia. Current results demonstrate that medical and dental practitioners should be encouraged to take an active role in raising awareness about OC, its signs and symptoms and the associated risk factors; hence, this can aid in the early detection of OC among relevant population.