A Preliminary Study on Early Detection of Oral Cancer with Opportunistic Screening: Insights from Dental Surgeons in Sri Lanka

Simple Summary In Sri Lanka, the authors are encouraging a cost-effective way to reduce the number of people developing oral cancer, which is a common cancer among men. The authors wanted to find out how well dentists can find signs of oral cancer and potential problems in their patients, and they did this by asking dentists questions in an online survey. Surprisingly, most of the dentists thought it would be better to only check people who are at a higher risk for oral cancer instead of checking everyone. Only about two thirds of the dentists regularly look for signs of oral cancer when people come for dental check-ups. The authors found that these dentists, on average, had noticed about 34 patients with concerning signs in the past year. Almost all the dentists believed that they needed more training to spot these problems. So, while opportunistic screening at the dentist's office is good, dental professionals also need to focus on other ways to prevent oral cancer, like checking high-risk groups and giving dentists more confidence to spot potential issues.Abstract In Sri Lanka, opportunistic screening is encouraged as a cost-effective tool to bring down the prevalence of oral cancer, which is the most common cancer among males. The objectives of the study were to determine the practices, attitudes, and level of competency of dental surgeons regarding the early detection of oral cancer and oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) through opportunistic screening. A prospective study was conducted online via a Google form using a pretested, self-administered questionnaire of 22 close-ended questions and 3 open-ended questions. Out of the 137 dental surgeons who responded, 88% (121/137) of the participants believed that screening high-risk target groups would be more effective in the early detection of oral cancer rather than opportunistic screening. Only 64% (88/137) of the participants frequently check for oral cancer and OPMDs when patients visit for dental treatment. Participants recalled an average of 34 patients (4628/137) with clinically suspicious lesions being diagnosed during examination at general dental practice during the past year, and 98% (134/137) of the participants believed that they should receive additional training in order to identify and diagnose clinically suspicious OPMDs and oral cancer. Opportunistic screening in general dental practice as an oral-cancer prevention strategy is appreciable, but due emphasis should be given to other prevention strategies such as population screening and screening high-risk target groups. The level of confidence of general dental practitioners in the early detection of oral cancer has to be raised in order to achieve higher standards in oral cancer prevention through opportunistic screening.