Journal Article

Is opportunistic oral cancer screening by dentists feasible? An analysis of the patterns of dental attendance of a nationally representative sample over 10 years

Authors

Publication date

2006

Abstract

To assess whether or not opportunistic oral cancer screening by dentists to detect pre-malignant or early cancer lesions is feasible. The objective was to analyse the patterns of dental attendance of a national representative sample over a period of 10 years to ascertain whether individuals at high-risk of oral cancer would be accessible for opportunistic oral cancer screening. METHODS: Secondary analysis of data extracted from the British Household Panel Survey, a national longitudinal survey (n=5547). Analysis to ascertain whether patterns of attendance for dental check-ups for a period of 10 years (1991-2001) were associated with risk factors for oral cancer such as age, sex, education, social class, smoking status and smoking intensity. RESULTS: Males, aged over 40 years, less educated manual workers and smokers were significantly less likely to attend for dental check-ups compared with females and younger, higher educated, higher socio-economic class non-smokers (p

Published in

Oral Health and Preventive Dentistry

Volume

4 (3):165-171

Subjects

Health and Surveys

Notes

not held in Res Lib - bibliographic reference only

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