Oral Cancer Knowledge of Senior Dental Students in Zahedan, South-East of Iran

Background: Oral carcinoma is one of the common types of cancer and one of the 10 leading causes of deatharound the world. This study was conducted to evaluate senior dental student knowledge about oral cancerouslesions in Zahedan Dental School. Materials and
Methods: In this cross-sectional research, all the students inthe last academic year at the School of Dentistry were studied during year of 2013. The study questionnairecovered demographic data as well as 12 questions concerning the knowledge of oral cancer. Data were collectedand analyzed with SPSS18 using independent t-test, one way ANOVA. Significance level was considered asp≤0.05.
Results: Of the 104 senior dental students, with an average age of 27.34± 7.79 years, who participatedin this study, 32 (30.8%) were female and 72 (69.2%) were male. The mean score of the students regarding theknowledge of oral cancer was 7.24±2.61. 20 students (19.2%) had a weak knowledge, 45 students (43.3%) had amoderate knowledge, and 39 students (37.5%) had a good knowledge.
Conclusions: The student knowledge oforal cancer is not satisfactory and they need to receive additional information and education.