Department of Stomatology, A.C. Camargo Cancer Center, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
School of Dentistry, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
J Dent Educ. 2022 Nov;86(11):1488-1497. doi: 10.1002/jdd.13021. Epub 2022 Jul 18.
PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: The present study aims to evaluate the knowledge of dental students and dentists who work in Primary Health Care (PHC). These are professionals who work in the public basic health units regarding oral cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
A cross-sectional and observational Brazilian study was conducted. A survey with 27 questions was carried out regarding the (i) demographic, academic, and professional data of the participants, (ii) attitudes, practices, and self-perception about their training, and (iii) knowledge about oral cancer. With the exception of one question regarding the clinical characteristics of oral cancer, all knowledge answers were graded as correct or incorrect. Grades were assigned to each participant according to their level of knowledge, and scores for each participant were calculated ranging from 1 to 10. Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to examine the difference in the knowledge score of oral cancer according to explanatory variables. The level of significance adopted was 5%.
The sample comprised 541 dental students and 82 PHC dentists. Most participants did not consider it appropriate or had not received training for palpation of lymph nodes or for identifying lymphadenopathies associated with oral cancer. Less than 20% of the participants had some kind of practice before and felt safe performing biopsy surgery. The average student score was 7.01 ± 2.15, and the average dentist score was 7.81 ± 1.467.
Although the scores were satisfactory, most of the participants did not show adequate knowledge about biopsy and palpation of cervical lymph nodes.
本研究旨在评估从事初级卫生保健（PHC）的牙科学生和牙医的知识。这些专业人员在公共基本卫生单位工作，负责口腔癌的预防、诊断和治疗。
这是一项巴西的横断面观察性研究。进行了一项包含 27 个问题的调查，涉及（i）参与者的人口统计学、学术和专业数据，（ii）他们对培训的态度、实践和自我认知，以及（iii）对口腔癌的知识。除了一个关于口腔癌临床特征的问题外，所有知识答案都被评为正确或错误。根据他们的知识水平给每个参与者打分，每个参与者的得分范围从 1 到 10。使用 Mann-Whitney 和 Kruskal-Wallis 检验来检查口腔癌知识得分在解释变量方面的差异。采用的显著性水平为 5%。
样本包括 541 名牙科学生和 82 名 PHC 牙医。大多数参与者认为对淋巴结进行触诊或识别与口腔癌相关的淋巴结病不合适或没有接受过相关培训。不到 20%的参与者在进行活检手术前有过某种实践，并且对自己进行活检手术感到安全。学生的平均得分为 7.01±2.15，牙医的平均得分为 7.81±1.467。
尽管得分令人满意，但大多数参与者对活检和颈部淋巴结触诊的知识不够充分。
