Oral pharyngeal cancer prevention and early detection - Dentists' opinionsand practices

Background. The five-year survival rate for patients in the United States d iagnosed with oral pharyngeal cancer is 52 percent, which suggests that the se cancers are diagnosed at late stages. The authors conducted this study t o determine U.S. dentists' opinions and practices regarding oral cancer pre vention and early detection. Methods. The authors mailed a pretested survey to 7,000 randomly selected g eneral practitioners. A total of 3,200 dentists provided information on how they conduct oral cancer examinations, their use of health history questio ns to assess patients' oral cancer risks and their oral cancer training and practices. The authors carried out analyses using unweighted data; both bi variate and logistic analytical techniques at a P less than or equal to .01 level of significance were used. Results. On average, dentists assessed about five of the eight health histo ry items on the survey. Eighty-six percent indicated that they did not cond uct oral cancer examinations on edentulous patients 18 years of age or olde r; 81 percent, however, reported that they conducted oral cancer examinatio ns for 100 percent of their patients 40 years of age or older on their init ial appointment. Conclusions. The reported practices of these dentists regarding oral cancer , in conjunction with their opinions about key aspects of these practices a nd their training, point to a need for systematic educational updates in or al cancer prevention and early detection. Clinical Implications. Dentists need to determine their patients' risks for oral cancers and provide routine and comprehensive oral cancer examination s.