A Comparative study on Knowledge of General Dentists and Dental Interns about Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Early diagnosis of oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) needs the knowledge about the disease and keeping it during the period of professional activity. This study aimed to compare general dentists and dental interns regarding their knowledge about OSCC in Yazd in 2012. This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 110 general dentists and 23 dental interns in Yazd (a city in Iran) in 2012 via utilizing a questionnaire. Statistical analysis of the data was carried out using ANOVA and Fisher's exact test. The results of this study indicated, that although the level of intern's knowledge (8.93 out of 20) was significantly higher (P<0.001) compared to that of general dentists (5.99 out of 20), both groups revealed poor level of knowledge (5-9.99). As a matter of fact, with an increase in the years of graduation, the mean awareness of general dentists significantly (P=0.001) decreased. Moreover, there was no significant relationship between the subject's knowledge and gender (P=0.671), attending re-education courses (P=0.864) and the type of university (P=0.868). The results of this study showed that reconsidering the education issues for the dental students seems more important than revising re-education courses for the dentists.