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Objective: To assess knowledge, practices, and opinion related to oral cancer among medical and dental practitioners in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A total of 550 Self-administered questioners were at various private and government hospitals/polyclinics in and around Riyadh. A convenient sampling technique was used to recruit the participants for the study, as it was challenging to obtain the updated lists of practitioners from all government and private medical and dental facilities. Dental practitioners, including general and speciaslist dentists and medical practitioners, including general and specialist medical practitioners, who are generally not involved in the examination of the oral cavity, were excluded from the study. Results: Among the 550 participants who met the inclusion criteria, 68.9% were males, while the other 31.1% were females. The mean knowledge score related to oral cancer was 9.5 for medical, and 9.7 for dental practitioners, however, the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.392). ANOVA test was applied to evaluate the differences in the mean scores between medical specialists, dental specialists, general medical practitioners (medical GP), and general dentists (dental GP). The mean score for all sub-groups was less than 15; among them, dental specialists had the highest mean score (10.2), followed by medical GP (9.9), dental GP (9.4), and medical specialist (9.2). Nevertheless, the difference between them was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusion: This research highlights the need to increase knowledge and awareness about oral cancer among practitioners.
RESUMO
Objectives: This study was aimed to measure and evaluate the morphological changes of the mandible, related to age and gender in partially edentulous and completely dentate subjects using panoramic radiographs. Methods: This study included a sample of 150 partially edentulous patients and 150 completely dentate patients enrolled in the College of Dentistry, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences between January 2015 and December 2018. Five mandibular morphological and anatomical parameters were measured using a Romexis software including; Condylar height. Gonial Angle, Ramus height, Antegonial notch depth and Ramal notch depth. Results: There was a significant difference (p=0.00) seen in the mean values of GA when comparing the partially edentulous (130.01 ± 7.79°) and completely dentate group (126.95 ± 6.64°). The mean values of GA were significantly larger among the younger age group (20-40) in both partially edentulous patients (131.58 ± 8.27°) and completely dentate group (127.17 ± 6.9°) (p<0.05). Conclusion: There was no relationship between the changes in the morphological measurements related to age and gender except for GA where younger subjects have higher GA values. Also, the mean values of GA were significantly higher in the partially edentulous group compared to completely dentate.
RESUMO
Introduction: Radiation hazards are harmful, and it becomes precarious when there is a professional negligence or ignorance. Objectives: To evaluate the knowledge, attitude and perception among dental students and dental practitioners toward dental radiation and to assess the difference in knowledge between dentists, dental staff and dental students. Materials and methods: The study was comprised of 550 participants. The information was collected from each participant through structured questionnaire consisting of 39 close-ended questions. Statistical analysis: Chisquare to test the association of knowledge, attitudes and perception (KAP) with gender, occupational sector and educational qualification and one way analysis of variance to compare the difference in means of KAP between the three different groups of professionals and gender. Results: Out of the 550 dental professionals who participated in the study, 293 (53%) were dental students, 83 (15%) were dental staff and 174 (32%) were dentists. Dental students showed higher KAP values towards radiation hazards protection followed by dentists and dental staff. Conclusion: From the results obtained in this study, it was noted that the KAP level with regard to radiation protection was higher among dental students compared to dentists, and the least KAP value was found with dental staff.