Experimental intervention study about recognition of erythroplakia by undergraduate dental students

The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of an examiners' training programme applied to identification of erythroplakia, which undergraduate d ental students have found particularly difficult. An experimental group of 5(th) year undergraduate dental students received a pictorial handout with diagnostic criteria for oral red lesions and two, one hourlong diagnostic s eminars in which oral erythroplakia was discussed, together with other red lesions with similar clinical appearance. Three months later a set of 16 ph otographic slides depicting previously pathologically diagnosed red lesions were projected. Sensitivity, specificity and agreement were all higher for the experimental group compared to a control group. It is suggested that t eaching procedures using slides could be useful for training future examine rs at recognising oral erythroplakias.