Table 3 Practice and attitude of dental students regarding oral cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment by the year of study

Practices

Do you routinely ask patients if they use tobacco? (N = 915)

No

42 (8.1)

30 (7.6)

72 (7.9)

0.805

Yes

477 (91.9)

366 (92.4)

843 (92.1)

Do you advise your patients to quite tobacco? (N = 912)

No

107 (20.7)

47 (11.9)

154 (16.9)

< 0.001

Yes

409 (79.3)

349 (88.1)

758 (83.1)

Do you examine patient’s oral mucosa routinely? (N = 907)

No

110 (21.4)

81 (20.6)

191 (21.1)

0.805

Yes

403 (78.6)

313 (79.4)

716 (78.9)

Have you had the opportunity to examine patients with a suspicious oral lesion? (N = 880)

No

248 (50.1)

161 (41.8)

409 (46.5)

0.002

Yes

207 (41.8)

205 (53.2)

412 (46.8)

Not sure

40 (8.1)

19 (4.9)

59 (6.7)

Attitudes

Do you feel adequately trained to provide tobacco cessation advice? (N = 901)

No

190 (37.5)

123 931.2)

313 (34.7)

0.008

Yes

254 (50.1)

237 (60.2)

491 (54.5)

Not sure

63 (12.4)

34 (8.6)

97 (10.8)

As regards to the clinical appearance of oral cancer, how knowledgeable do you feel? (N = 879)

Poorly informed

355 (71.1)

245 (64.5)

600 (68.3)

0.065

Well informed

92 (18.4)

94 (24.7)

186 (21.2)

Very well informed

52 (10.4)

41 (10.8)

93 (10.6)

Do you consider that the university provided adequate training on oral cancer examination? (N = 892)

No

296 (58.8)

218 (56)

514 (57.6)

0.001

Yes

159 (31.9)

155 (39.8)

314 (35.2)

Not sure

48 (9.5)

16 (4.1)

64 (7.2)

Do you feel that you have sufficient knowledge concerning prevention and detection of oral cancer? (N = 897)

No

320 (63.2)

203 (51.9)

523 (58.3)

0.002

Yes

161 (31.8)

168 (43)

329 (36.7)

Not sure

25 (4.9)

20 (5.1)

45 (5)

Would you like more information or teaching on oral cancer? (N = 897)

No

48 (9.5)

37 (9.5)

85 (9.5)

0.463

Yes

444 (87.7)

348 (89)

792 (88.3)

Not sure

14 (2.8)

6 (1.5)

20 (2.2)