Knowledge and Awareness of Potentially Malignant Disorders and Oral Cancer among Undergraduate and Graduate Dental Students

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Nishath Sayed Abdul et al.

Abstract

Aims and objective- To assess and compare the knowledge and awareness (KA) of potentially malignant disorders (PMDs) and oral cancer among undergraduate and graduate dental students of a private university.


Methods- This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among 212 dental students. The study participants included undergraduates (UG) and the graduates dental students enrolled at Riyadh Elm University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A self-administered, structured questionnaire written in both Arabic and English languages was administered to the participants using online survey. The knowledge, awareness, and practice of potentially malignant disorders and oral cancer were assessed using a 14 items questionnaire with yes/no responsesand it consisted of three sections: demographic data, knowledge and awareness based questions (1-10), and practice-based questions (11-14). Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were applied to the data. Statistical significance was determined at p-value <0.001.


Results- From among the 212 participants, about 127 were under graduate and 85 were graduate dental students. Majority were Males (n=110; 51.9%]) than females (n=102; 48.1%). The age groups of participants were between 18- 30 years. Majority of the graduates, 72 (84.7%), were confident of their degree of knowledge of potentially malignant disorders (PMDs) compared to only 36 (59%) of clinical undergraduates and 28 (42.4%) of preclinical undergraduate dental students. 


Conclusion- The overall, knowledge, awareness and practice of graduate dental students was good and acceptable, compared to undergraduates. However, the undergraduate clinical dental students had good knowledge and awareness compared to preclinical undergraduates.

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