Oral Health and Dental Management

Dental patientsâ?? education on oral cancer and its risk factors in Saudi: Situation analysis including multiple perspective of dentists and dental-patients

22^nd International Conference on Dental Education

April 09-10, 2018 | Amsterdam, Netherlands

Mohammed Jafer

CAPHRI-Maastricht University, Netherlands

Keynote: Oral Health Dent Manag

Abstract:

Oral cancer is a major oral health issue in the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia. According to the Saudi Cancer Registry, Jazan region has the highest prevalence of oral cancer in the country. However, limited effort regarding investigation and prevention of oral cancer and its risk factors has been initiated. Moreover, there is a lack of insight into dental patientsâ?? education of oral cancer and its risk factors by dentists and dental-students that could contribute to reducing such disease burden in Jazan. Therefore, a multi-angle approach with five formative studies to investigate the practice of dental patientsâ?? education in Jazan University Dental School clinics including dental students, dentists and dental patients was conducted. Data was collected through observing 95 dentists practices, questionnaire measuring dentistsâ?? knowledge of oral cancer (n= 228), dentistsâ?? perspectives (6 focus group interviews), patients perspectives (40 one-on-one interviews) and patients questionnaires (n= 300) to assess their knowledge and perception of oral cancer and its related issues including dental patientsâ?? education practice. These studies revealed that the practice of dental patientsâ?? education regarding oral cancer and its risk factors is limited. The lack of dental patientsâ?? education practice and skills in the Jazan University Dental School formal education and training and the lack of dental patientsâ?? education enforcement from the clinics supervision may have contributed to this current situation.

Biography :

Mohammed Jafer has completed his MPH and Dental Public Health Residency from Case Western Reserve University, Ohio and is pursuing his PhD at Maastricht University Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Netherlands. He is the former Vice-Dean of Jazan University Dental School, Saudi Arabia. He has published several papers in reputed journals and was a key-note speaker at the 1st International Oral Cancer conference in Saudi Arabia on February 14, 2017. He has recently been awarded the Saudi Aramco Prize for Public Health, 2017 for his work related to oral cancer prevention.
Email:m.jafer@maastrichtuniversity.nl