Awareness and knowledge of oral cancer among dental patientsattending the Hacettepe University Faculty of Dentistry

More than 50% of mouth cancer cases are diagnosed at advanced stages. The diagnosed stage is very important for prognosis. The awareness and knowledge of individuals about oral cancer can help prevent disease and early diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and awareness of a group of individuals about symptoms and risk factors of oral cancer, and to give trainings on oral cancer as well to draw attention to the necessity, which is an important disease of our age, in addition to trainings on first aid, family planning. Data were collected from 1000 randomly selected patients who applied to Hacettepe University Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Clinic. Overall oral cancer awareness was determined as 54.2%. Respectively 75.8% and 52.8% of the participants stated that smoking and alcohol were risk factors. It was determined that respectively 54.7%, 35.3% and 24.4% of the patients were aware that the non-healing ulcers, red patches and white patches were found to be signs of oral cancer. Participants with a high level of education, participants over 40 years of age, female participants and participants who are healthcare workers had higher awareness of oral cancer, and had generally more information about symptoms and risk factors of oral cancer. It was determined that the oral cancer awareness and knowledge of the patients who participated in the study were not sufficient. It may be useful to give informative trainings on mouth cancer to the public. Keywords: oral cancer, awareness, knowledge, adult dental patients, risk factors