Assessing oral cancer early detection: clarifying dentists' practices.
OBJECTIVE
This study explores new methods for assessing in greater detail what dentists do when they perform oral cancer early detection examinations. It clarifies practice behaviors and opens opportunities to identify factors that facilitate thorough early detection examinations by clinicians and to assess the relative effectiveness of different examination procedures.


METHODS
A 38-item survey instrument was e-mailed to dentists in a western US, multistate dental practice group. Questionnaires were received by 241 dentists, and 102 responded. An Oral Cancer Knowledge scale (0 to 14) was generated from correct responses on oral cancer general knowledge. An Oral Cancer Examination Thoroughness scale was calculated from the two dimensions of reported usage and frequency of procedures in oral cancer examinations.


RESULTS
Nearly all responding dentists were in general practice (90%), with a median year of graduation from dental school of 1994. The Oral Cancer Knowledge scores ranged from 5 to 14 with a mean of 10.4. The mean Thoroughness of Examination score was 11.34 (range 0 to 20). The two scales were not statistically correlated (r = -0.015, P = 0.883). Statistically, recency of continuing education was significantly associated with knowledge (P = 0.0284) and appears to be marginally associated with thoroughness (P = 0.075).


CONCLUSIONS
This study documents considerable variability in dentists' knowledge and thoroughness of examinations. The scales provide tools for future studies for improving understanding of early detection of oral cancer in clinical practice.
LeHew
Charles W
CW
Institute for Health Research and Policy, Center for Population Health and Health Disparities, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1747 W. Roosevelt Road, Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60608, USA. lehew@uic.edu
Epstein
Joel B
JB
Kaste
Linda M
LM
Choi
Young-Ku
YK
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004498:Education, Dental, Continuing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D034742:Electronic Mail; D005260:Female; D005792:General Practice, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015146:Midwestern United States; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors