Awareness and Knowledge of Oral Cancer Among Dental Patients: A Survey Based Questionnaire Study

Oral cancer is mostly preventable. As the mouth is easily accessible for self or clinical examination early diagnosis of the malignancy is possible, and it greatly increases survival rates.3 The prognosis of oral cancer is poor with lowest survival rates of <50%, within a 5-year period. In spite of advances in the diagnosis and treatment of oral cancer, the proportion of oral cancer cases diagnosed at an early and localized stage is still <50% (Atessa et al., 2010; Patton et al., 2005).1,2,4,5 Even though, recent advances in the detection and treatment of cancer, visual accessibility of the oral mucosa, and the scientific knowledge on cancer risk factors, oral cancer INTRODUCTION