Oral cancer awareness, knowledge, and practices among Saudi general dentists

Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate oral cancer (OC) awareness, knowledge, and practices among Saudi general dentists. Materials and Methods: We included dentists who were recognized and licensed by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties. They were e-mailed officially with a 28-item questionnaire and constructed to investigate the study objectives. Results: The final sample included 326 dentists. About 85.6% of the participants reported their awareness; this was confirmed when similar percentage (87.4%) stated that there are etiological factors other than tobacco and alcohol for OC. Only 34.7% of the participants had sufficient knowledge concerning the prevention and detection of OC. Concerning the referral, 53.4% referred their patients to oral medicine specialist. Conclusions: Our findings revealed that chances exist to improve the knowledge, increase awareness, and develop right practices toward OC. Furthermore, our results revealed that dentists believed their knowledge was insufficient to detect OCs, although most of them showed reasonable level of knowledge about some aspects of diagnosing OCs. All these emphasize general dentists' role in the prevention and diagnosis and the need to improve dentists' knowledge and practices toward OC

Awareness and knowledge of periodontal disease among Saudi primary school teachers in Aseer region

Background: The consequences of periodontal disease are not limited to the oral cavity. As schools are considered to be one of the principal systems in preventive oral health, teachers' knowledge pertaining to the periodontal disease, their awareness with regard to its implications and their role in increasing the awareness of the students regarding this disease comprises only one aspect with respect to the prevention of the periodontal disease. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the baseline awareness and knowledge of Saudi primary school teachers regarding the periodontal disease. Materials and Methods: For this purpose, a questionnaire was distributed among the participants of the study. Results: It was observed that 91.4% of the participants reported that the periodontal disease does not need any treatment although 70% of the participants believed that it could result in tooth loss, and 95% considered the periodontal disease to be a preventable disease. Moreover, social media (44%) and television advertisements (39%) were the main sources from where they acquired information about the periodontal disease. Conclusions: Most participants have heard about the importance of periodontal health but are not sufficiently aware of its consequences and negative effects on their body. They are used to receiving information about periodontal diseases from nondental clinics and unreliable sources. This creates misconceptions. Although the participants were keen to attend educational events on periodontal health, the lack of medical communication between the health practitioners and the general public is evident. Mostly, investigated areas and individuals do not have any educational means to be aware of periodontal health