Evaluation of Knowledge and Diagnostic Skills of General Physicians and Dentists in the City of Shiraz about Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Early detection is the most important factor in reducing mortality of oral cancer. Dental and medical professionals pose an important role according to screening, early detection and subsequent referral. The aim of the current study was to assess knowledge and diagnostic skills of oral cancel among dental and medical practitioners in the city of Shiraz. This was a descriptive cross- sectional study was couducted on 200 general physicians and dentists using questionnaire in the city of Shiraz in 2014. Simple randomization sampling was conducted. Data were analyzed via SPSS version18 by student’s t-test, Mann Whitney, Chi-square and Spearman co-efficient correlation. A total of 200 participants (100 dentists and 100 medical doctors) were recruited. Mean professional experience was 9 years and 6 months. The average grade for knowledge and diagnostic skills were 69% and 52% respectively. Our data showed negative correlation between grade of ability and number of patient visits per day and also daily working hours among general physicians (P<0.005). The result of this study revealed that there was a lack of adequate knowledge and diagnostic skills about oral cancer in our selected sample.