ارزیابی دانش سرطان دهان: متخصصین تازه کار در مقابل دانپزشکان مجرب Oral Cancer Knowledge Assessment: Newly Graduated versus Senior Dental Clinicians

1. Introduction Oral cancer is considered a worldwide public health problem. It is the sixth most frequent type of cancer, and two out of three cases occur in developing countries [1, 2]. ‘e Brazilian National Cancer Institute (INCA) had estimated the occurrence of 11,140 new cases of oral cancer in men and 4,350 in women in 2016 [3]. According to this estimation, the south and southeast regions would be the most a:ected, with the highest incidence rates [3]. ‘e most prevalent type of cancer is the squamous cell carcinoma [3–5]. It is considered to have poor prognosis [6], with a Dve-year survival rate in 50 to 60% of cases [1, 6, 7]. It is worth mentioning that there has not been notable prognosis improvement in the recent decades [5–7]. ‘e patients’ survival rate and the functional consequences are related to the disease staging at the time of diagnosis [8]. ‘e early detection and the immediate treatment of oral cancer may reduce the mortality rates [1, 2, 5, 9–11]. However, studies have demonstrated that two out of three cancers are diagnosed in advanced stages (III and IV) [2, 10, 12–14]. ‘is delay in diagnosis is due to factors related to patients [13–15], health proDssionais [13, 14], and the health system, as the late diagnosis has also been associated with the diGcult access to specialized services, especially for people who live away from large centers [15]. ‘e shortage of dental professionals and dental schools in Brazil may be ruled out as a possible factor for this delay [16], given that there are currently more than 280,000 professionals and 220 dental schools in the country [17]. ‘e oral cancer may be identiDed at an early stage by means of visual and tactile examinations, and the dentists are key role health professionals in counselling patients about early detection of this disease [18]. ‘e preventive role of these professionals relies on the fact that they have the greatest chances to identify asymptomatic lesions through routine examinations and to diagnose the disease before it starts unfolding, revealing its devastating consequences [19]. ‘is fact emphasizes the importance of assessing the clinical professional knowledge regarding oral cancer risk factors and its diagnostic procedures.