title: Oral and pharyngeal cancer control and early detection.
abstract: Sixty-four standardized continuing education courses were given for dentists throughout the ten public health districts of the USA to determine if certain behaviors regarding oral and pharyngeal cancer (OPC) control could be modified. Questionnaires were obtained at baseline and at 6 months along with matched control groups. One thousand eight hundred two general dentists participated at baseline and 988 at a 6-month questionnaire follow-up. Analysis of the data indicated that continuing education courses had a positive influence on participants' oral cancer attitudes, knowledge, and behavior that potentially could make a difference on prevention, early detection, and ultimately OPC control.
authors.affiliation: Department Orofacial Sciences, School of Dentistry Box 0422, University of California, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. silvermans@dentistry.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Sol
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Silverman
authors.forename: A Ross
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Kerr
authors.forename: Joel B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Epstein
mesh_terms: D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D006801:Humans; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010610:Pharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires