• 6/10/2007
  • Chicago, IL
  • staff
  • United Press International (www.upi.com)

More than 92 percent of Illinois dentists provide oral cancer examinations, but some are not performing the procedures thoroughly.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago say dentists are not doing all they should be doing to detect oral cancers in their patients.

Lead researcher Charles LeHew had more than 500 dentists in 19 Illinois counties respond to the 38-item questionnaire that was used to gauge the extent of their knowledge of oral cancer prevention and early detection.

The majority of dentists correctly identified squamous cell carcinoma, the most common form of oral cancer, as well as the most common sites for oral cancer and the most-common types of early lesions, but many were not able to answer those questions correctly, according to the study published in the Journal of Public Health Dentistry.

Moreover, dentists lacked the knowledge needed for risk assessment and counseling. Some dentists incorrectly identified tobacco or alcohol as the least important risk factor for oral cancer, when in fact they are the two most important, according to LeHew.