Ability of Dental Students in Spain to Identify Potentially Malignant Disorders and Oral Cancer

作者：Cerero Lapiedra Rocio^*; Esparza Gomez German C; Casado de la Cruz Laura; Dominguez Gordillo Adelaida A; Corral Linaza Cesar; Seoane Romero Juan M

来源：Journal of Dental Education, 2015, 79(8): 959-964.

DOI：10.1002/j.0022-0337.2015.79.8.tb05987.x

• dental education
• oral medicine
• oral cancer
• oral examination
• diagnosis
• oral lesions
• clinical skills
• Spain

The aim of this study was to assess the ability of students at the School of Dentistry, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, to diagnose oral cancer and other potentially malignant disorders, as well as to compare their ability at different stages of the learning process and evaluate their knowledge retention. Students were surveyed after they had studied oral medicine and oral pathology at two time points: midway through and near the end of their studies. The survey consisted of questions about 40 photographs of benign oral lesions, malignant oral lesions, and potentially malignant disorders. The response rate for all groups was greater than 70%. The results showed that these students' overall success rate in differentiating benign from malignant lesions averaged 73.9%. When the distinction for potentially malignant disorders was included, their average overall success rate decreased to 42.8% (p<0.001). Furthermore, the students' average success rate was at its lowest at the end of the dental program (p<0.001). Results from this study suggest that, given these students' difficulties in identifying potentially malignant disorders, an increased emphasis on cancer education in the dental curriculum may be needed for future practitioners to master this ability.
Dr. Cerero-Lapiedra is Professor, Department of Oral Medicine and Orofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain; Dr. Esparza-Gomez is Professor, Department of Oral Medicine and Orofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain; Dr. Casado-de la Cruz is a doctoral student, Department of Oral Medicine and Orofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain; Dr. Dominguez-Gordillo is Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain; Dr. Corral-Linaza is Senior Professor and Master of Orofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain; and Dr. Seoane-Romero is Senior Professor, Department of Stomatology, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Direct correspondence to Dr. Rocio Cerero-Lapiedra, Department of Oral Medicine and Orofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Plaza de Ramon y Cajal s/n, CP 28040, Madrid, Spain; [phone]; [e-mail].

• 出版日期2015-8