Oral Cancer Screening Practices and Attitudes of Cypriot Healthcare Professionals

Background: Oral cancer is the eighth most common cancer worldwide and has one of the lowest five-year survival rates among the major types of cancer. Early detection and diagnosis of oral cancer has been shown to be crucial for improved survival rate, quality of life and lower treatment duration and cost. Although oral cancer occurs in a part of the body that is readily accessible for early detection, most lesions are not diagnosed until they have reached advanced stages.

Objective: to assess screening and management practices of primary care physicians and dentists in Cyprus to identify areas that could benefit from intervention to increase detection of oral cancer in early stages.

Methods: A 40-item questionnaire was mailed to all members of the Cyprus Dental Association and all primary care, internal medicine and family physician members of the Cyprus Medical Association in July 2006. One hundred and fifty-seven dentists and 112 physicians responded. Responses were analyzed with chi-square and non-parametric statistics using STATA v.9.0

Results: While dentists in Cyprus were more likely to perform oral cancer examinations at initial visits than physicians (p<0.05), they were less likely to assess oral cancer risk factors such as smoking and alcohol use. Both groups were less likely to assess type, amount and previous use of alcohol as compared with current smoking. The most common reason given by both physicians and dentists for not performing oral cancer exams was inadequate training. A greater percentage of each professional group felt that the other professional group was more adequately trained to perform oral cancer examinations than their own professional group.

Conclusions: Our research identified several areas for improvement of oral cancer screening in Cyprus, including the assessment of risk factors and the use of appropriate screening techniques. Continuing education programs aimed at these areas are needed.