Tingkat pengetahuan dokter gigi mengenai deteksi dini karsinoma sel skuamosa rongga mulut Knowledge level of dentists about early detection and diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma

Introduction: Squamous cell carcinoma is an epithelial malignant neoplasm that shows squamous cell differentiation characterized by the formation of keratin. The incidence of oral cancer is still increasing and almost all oral cancer patients are found when they are at an advanced stage. One of the factors that can cause this delay in diagnosis is the dentist who is not careful in routine oral examinations or does not have sufficient knowledge about malignancies in the oral cavity. In fact, if oral cancer is detected early, it will prolong the patient’s survival and the prognosis will be better. This study aims to describe the level of knowledge of dentists regarding the early detection and diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity. Methods: This study was conducted using an online questionnaire to 106 dentists in the city of Medan. Respondents were selected using a purposive sampling technique, namely respondents who were studied based on predetermined criteria. Results : From the results of this research, as many as 56.6% of respondents have a good level of knowledge, 41.1% of respondents who have a sufficient level of knowledge and 2.7% of respondents who have a low level of knowledge. Conclusions: Dentists’ knowledge of early detection and diagnosis of OSCC is included in the good category, although there are some respondents who have sufficient to less knowledge.