Are dental access centers, the potential locations for primary prevention of oral cancer

ABSTRACT

The objectives of the study was to determine the proportion of patients attending dental access centers that are at risk of developing oral cancer because of lifestyle habits. Data were collected prospectively about the smoking and smokeless tobacco habits of patients attending a dental access centre at Karachi Medical and Dental College and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in Karachi. It was a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. Results showed that more than 50% of patients attending the dental access centre were smokers, with almost 30% of the patients in high or very high tobacco use groups. The majority of attendees were under 45 years of age. It was concluded that significant numbers of patients attending the dental access centre have lifestyle habits that make them vulnerable to oral cancer. Dental access centres could usefully provide opportunistic health messages to patients about risk factors in the development of oral cancer and could create smoking cessation programmes