Patients’ perceptions of oral cancer screening in dental practice: a cross-sectional study

BMC Oral Health

Tim Newton¹  Suzanne E Scott¹  Oluwatunmise Awojobi¹ 

[1] Unit of Social and Behavioural Sciences, King’s College London Dental Institute, Denmark Hill Campus, Caldecot Road, London, SE5 9RW, UK

关键词: Public Health;    Awareness;    Screening;    Early Detection of Cancer;    Oral Cancer;   

Others  :  1126293
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6831-12-55

 received in 2012-09-06, accepted in 2012-12-13,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

Oral cancer is increasing in incidence in the UK and indeed worldwide. Delay in diagnosis is common; up to half of patients are diagnosed with advanced lesions. Thus it is essential to develop methods to aid early detection. This study aimed to assess dental patients’ experiences and awareness of oral cancer and screening within general dental practice.

Methods

A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 184 English-speaking adults, with no previous history of oral cancer was conducted. The questionnaire collected data on participant’s knowledge of oral cancer, experience of ‘screening’, attitudes and feelings towards having a screening, anticipated help-seeking behaviours, health-related behaviours (particularly risk factors) and sociodemographics.

Results

Twenty percent of respondents had never heard of oral cancer; 77% knew little or nothing about it and 72% did not know that their Dentist routinely screens for oral cancer. Overall, attitudes to screening were positive. Ninety two percent of respondents would like their Dentist to tell them if they were being screened for signs of oral cancer and 97% would like help from their Dentists to reduce their risk.

Conclusion

Patients seem generally unaware of oral cancer screening by their dentist but are happy to take part in screening, would like to be informed, and welcome the support of their Dentist to reduce their risk of developing oral cancer.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Awojobi et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Murphy BA, Gilbert J, Cmelak A, Ridner SH: Symptom control issues and supportive care of patients with head and neck cancers. Clin Adv Hematol Oncol 2007, 5:807-822.
• [2]Mcgurk M, Chan C, Jones J, Oregan E, Sherriff M: Delay in diagnosis and its effect on outcome in head and neck cancer. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2005, 43:281-284.
• [3]Jemal A, Bray F, Carter M, Ferlay J, Ward E, Forman D: Global cancer statistics. CA Cancer J Clin 2011, 4(61):69-90.
• [4]Cancer Research UK: Oral cancer - UK incidence statistics. http://Info.Cancerresearchuk.Org/Cancerstats/Types/Oral/Incidence/#Source6 webcite.
• [5]Lehew CW, Epstein JB, Kaste LM, Choi Y-K: Assessing oral cancer early detection: clarifying dentists’ practices. J Public Health Dent 2010, 70:93-100.
• [6]La Vecchia C, Tavani A, Franceschi S, Levi F, Corrao G, Negri E: Epidemiology and prevention of oral cancer. Oral Oncol 1997, 33:302-312.
• [7]Cancer Research UK: Oral cancer - risk factors. http://Info.Cancerresearchuk.Org/Cancerstats/Types/Oral/Riskfactors/ webcite.
• [8]Scully C, Felix DH: Oral medicine update for the dental practitioner: oral cancer. Br Dent J 2006, 200:13-17.
• [9]Office For National Statistics: Cancer statistics registrations - registrations of cancer diagnosed in 2008. England: Office For National Statistics; 2009.
• [10]Scott SE, Mcgurk M, Grunfeld EA: The process of symptom appraisal: cognitive and emotional responses to detecting potentially malignant oral symptoms. J Psychosom Res 2007, 62:621-630.
• [11]Scott SE, Grunfeld EA, Mcgurk M: Patient’s delay in oral cancer: a systematic review. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2006, 34:337-343.
• [12]Rogers SN, Lowe D, Catleugh M, Edwards D: An oral cancer awareness intervention in community pharmacy. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2010, 48:498-502.
• [13]Warnakulasuriya K, Harris CK, Scarrott DM, Watt R, Gelbier S, Peters TJ, Johnson NW: Oral cancer: an alarming lack of public awareness towards oral cancer. Br Dent J 1999, 187:319-322.
• [14]West R, Alkhatib MN, Mcneill A, Bedi R: Awareness of mouth cancer in Great Britain. Br Dent J 2006, 200:167-169.
• [15]Humphris GM, Field EA: An oral cancer information leaflet for smokers in primary care: results from two randomised controlled trials. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2004, 32:143-149.
• [16]Speight PM, Palmer S, Moles DR, Downer MC, Smith DH, Henriksson M, Augustovski F: The cost-effectiveness of screening for oral cancer in primary care. Health Technol Assess 2006, 10:1-144.
• [17]Johnson NW, Warnakulasuriya S, Gupta PC, Dimba E, Chindia M, Otoh EC, Sankaranarayanan R, Califano J, Kowalski L: Global oral health inequalities in incidence and outcomes for oral cancer. Adv Dent Res 2011, 23:237-246.
• [18]British Dental Association: Opportunistic oral cancer screening: a management strategy for dental practice. London: British Dental Association (BDA) Occasional Paper; 2000:6.
• [19]Tomar SL, Logan HL: Florida adults' oral cancer knowledge and examination experiences. J Public Health Dent 2005, 65(4):221-230.
• [20]Choi Y, Dodd V, Watson J, Tomar S, Logan H, Edwards H: Perspectives of African Americans and dentists concerning dentist-patient communication on oral cancer screening. Patient Educ Couns 2008, 71:41-51.
• [21]London Health Observatory: Local tobacco control profiles for England. http://www.Lho.Org.Uk/Lho_Topics/Analytic_Tools/Tobaccocontrolprofiles/Profile.Aspx? webcite.
• [22]National Patient Safety Agency: National research ethics service committee directory. http://www.Nres.Npsa.Nhs.Uk/Applications/Booking-And-Submitting-Your-Application/Nres-Committee-Directory/?Entryid27=18596&Q=0%7elondon%7e&Catid=0 webcite.
• [23]Page D: British psychological society code of conduct, ethical principles, & guidelines. Leicester: The British Psychological Society; 2001.
• [24]Babor TF, De La Fuente JR, Saunders J, Grant M: Audit - the alcohol Use disorders identification test; guidelines for Use in primary care. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 1992.
• [25]Bradley KA, Debenedetti AF, Volk RJ, Williams E, Frank D, Kivlahan DR: Audit-C as a brief screen for alcohol misuse in primary care. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2007, 31:1208-1217.
• [26]Lader D: Smoking-related behaviour and attitudes 2008/09. http://www.Statistics.Gov.Uk/Downloads/Theme_Health/Smoking2008-9.Pdf webcite.
• [27]Scott SE, Khwaja M, Low E, Weinman J, Grunfeld EA: A randomised controlled trial of a pilot intervention to encourage early presentation of oral cancer in high risk groups. Patient Educ Couns 2012, 88(2):241-248.
• [28]Netuveli G, Sheiham A, Watt RG: Does the “inverse screening law” apply to oral cancer screening and regular dental check-ups? J Med Screen 2006, 13(1):47-50.
• [29]Kujan O, Duxbury AJ, Glenny AM, Thakker NS, Sloan P: Opinions and attitudes of the UK’s GDPs and specialists in oral surgery, oral medicine and surgical dentistry on oral cancer screening. Oral Dis 2006, 12:194-199.
• [30]Warnakulasuriya K, Johnson NW: Dentists and oral cancer prevention in the UK: opinions, attitudes and practices to screening for mucosal lesions and to counselling patients on tobacco and alcohol use: baseline data from 1991. Oral Dis 1999, 5:10-14.
• [31]Cruz GD, Ostroff JS, Kumar JV, Gajendra S: Preventing and detecting oral cancer: oral health care Providers’ readiness to provide health behaviour counseling and oral cancer examinations. J Am Dent Assoc 2005, 136:594-601.