Knowledge about dental care in patients with head and neck cancer among senior dental school students: a cross-sectional descriptive study

The dentist's central role in treating head and neck cancer patients is to care for the patient's oral cavity before, during, and after radio/chemotherapy. This research aimed to determine dental students' knowledge about head and neck cancer patients' dental care. One hundred an...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	BMC medical education Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 776 - 8
Main Authors:	Karimi Afshar, Marzieh, Behniafar, Milad, Abbaszadeh, Elham, Parizi, Molook Torabi, Karimi Afshar, Mehrnaz
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England BioMed Central Ltd 19-07-2024 BioMed Central BMC
Subjects:	Adult Beliefs, opinions and attitudes Cancer Cancer therapies Care and treatment Chemotherapy Cross-Sectional Studies Data Analysis Dental Care Dental caries Dental Evaluation Dental Health Dental schools Dental students Dentistry Dentists Dysphagia Education, Dental Evaluation Female Head & neck cancer Head and neck cancer Head and Neck Neoplasms - psychology Head and Neck Neoplasms - therapy Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Humans Knowledge Male Medical education Medical students Mucositis Oncology Oral hygiene Patient outcomes Patients Public opinion Questionnaires Radiation therapy Radiology Radiotherapy Side effects Squamous cell carcinoma Students Students, Dental - psychology Surveys and Questionnaires Utilization Validity Workshops Young Adult Iran Dental students Chemotherapy Squamous cell carcinoma Head and neck cancer Oncology Radiotherapy Dental care
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	The dentist's central role in treating head and neck cancer patients is to care for the patient's oral cavity before, during, and after radio/chemotherapy. This research aimed to determine dental students' knowledge about head and neck cancer patients' dental care. One hundred and four fifth and sixth-year dental students participated in this cross-sectional descriptive study. The data collection tool was a questionnaire that collected demographic information (gender, year of study) and four questions consisting of attendance to courses or workshops, passing a dedicated course at the university, willing to participate in a course or workshop on the treatment of head and neck cancer patients and self-evaluating information about the treatment of head and neck cancer patients. Final part 36 questions about oral and dental care for head and neck cancer patients before, after, and during treatment. The data were analyzed with SPSS 26 statistical software and using t-tests, ANOVA, and linear regression at the 0.05 significance level. Most of the participants were in their sixth year (48.9%). A total of 48.1% of the people reported that their information about dental treatments in patients with head and neck cancer was bad. 85% of participants agreed with the necessity of evaluating the patient's mouth and teeth before starting the treatment. The lowest percentage of correct answers was related to the ideal duration of tooth extraction and a poor prognosis before the start of cancer treatment. The regression analysis revealed a significant relationship between years of education, willingness to participate in courses, and students' knowledge evaluation and knowledge. The findings showed that students' awareness of oral and dental treatment and care for patients with head and neck cancer is insufficient. It is recommended that teaching staff pay more attention to the lack of knowledge and effort to educate students by holding special courses and workshops.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1472-6920 1472-6920
DOI:	10.1186/s12909-024-05728-0