Oral Cancer Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices among Dental and Medical Students in Saudi Arabia

Background: Oral cancer had important public health concern, ranking as the world’s 16thmost common cancer. Despite being highly preventable, oral cancer is associated with multiple risk factors and a high mortality rate and contributes significantly to the global cancer burden. The 5-year survival rate for oral cancer remains low (50%), and it has not improved in recent decades. The prognosis is relatively good when caught in the early stages, but it deteriorates dramatically in the advanced stages.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate and assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of dental and medical students in Saudi Arabia towards oral cancer.

Methods: A pre-designed questionnaire had been distributed to 1033 dental and medical student in Saudi Arabia, and data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0. The participants’ confidentiality was maintained.

Results: This study included 1033 participants (males = 558 [54.0%] and females = 475[46.0%]). Medical students represented 734 (71.1%) of the participants and dental students represented 299 (28.9%) of the participants. Overall, 686 (66.4%) participants thought they had good aware about oral cancer, and 771 (74.6%) were concerned about its prevention. Both dental and medical students thought that oral cancer is more common in people over the age of 60 years, with no difference between medical and dental students (degrees off reedom [df] = 1, p = 0.793). Regarding risk factors, both smoking tobacco and alcohol consumption were mentioned by 66.1% of the sample, with no difference between medical and dental students (df = 1, p = 1.000). In addition, 29.9% of students identified the buccalmucosa as the most common site of oral cancer, with no difference between medical and dental students (df = 1, p = 0.691). No significant differences in the mean total score (number of correct answers) between dental students and also medical students at each study level except for the fifth-year students. At this level, the mean score was higher in dental students (6.05±1.88) than medical students (5.13±2.01) (p< 0.01).

Conclusions: Medical and dental students had similar knowledge, attitude and practices towards oral cancer. Furthermore, fifth-year dental students from the northern region of Saudi Arabiah ad the highest mean score on the questionnaire.