Mexican Dental School Deans’ Opinions and Practices Regarding Oral Cancer, 2007

Oral-cancer knowledge, practice, and attitude assessment of dentists in Upper Egypt: A cross-sectional study

The aims of this study were to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of dentists in Upper Egypt with regard to oral cancer (OC). Out of 1,200 licensed dental practitioners list, 424 dentists were randomly selected from three governorates in Upper Egypt (Minia, Assuit, and Sohag). The sample size was calculated using the equation considering the knowledge of dentists about OC, confidence level, and margins of error; then, an additional number of dentists were added to guard against nonresponse. Data were collected by face-to-face interview using 44 items divided into four sections; first part demonstrates sociodemographic. The second part concerned with the knowledge about OC clinical presentation and diagnosis (12 multiple-choice questions) as well as its risk factors (17 close-end questions). The third part consists of six questions focused on the practice of participants, and finally, the last part measures attitude of dentists. The chi-square test was used to compare between the two or more proportions. A correlation was used for describing the relationship or association between two mutually numerical dependent variables. p < 0.05 was considered to indicate significance. Rate of response was 94.3%. The overall knowledge level in the current study was 31.8%. The awareness about OC risk factors was high especially, smoking tobacco and alcohol consumption. Also, over 80% of dentists identified family history and human papillomavirus (HPV) as risk factors. Only 37.5% of participants performed regular screening of oral mucosa, and 26.5% reported lymph-node examination. Regarding attitude, only one quarter of dentists attended continuing educating programs about OC. A statistically significant relation (p < 0.0001) between knowledge level and most demographic variables was detected. There was a fair positive correlation (r = 0.47) between practice and knowledge scores. A predominant trouble among dentists in Upper Egypt was regarding OC knowledge and practice. Continues education and training programs are highly recommended.

Dentists Survey on Adverse Events During Their Clinical Training

BACKGROUND

Adverse events (AEs) begin challenging the safe practice of dentistry early when students start treating patients at dental school. We assessed the frequency with which dentists caused common AEs during their undergraduate clinical training.

METHODS

A convenience sample of dentists, graduated from more than 34 dental schools in Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries, answered a confidential, self-administered questionnaire with closed-format questions on common AEs they caused and their active errors that could have led to AEs in the teaching clinics.

RESULTS

Of 207 participants, 80% had graduated recently. As undergraduates, 79% caused AEs; 38% admitted to causing one adverse event, 41% to causing two or more, and 36% committed active errors that could have hurt patients. No significant associations between AEs and sex or type of school were observed.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that dental students caused AEs or committed errors that placed patients at risk, during their clinical training.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Dental schools must identify challenges to patient safety at their teaching clinics and introduce risk reduction strategies to protect their patients and foster a safety culture in dental education.