Oral Cancer Screening Among Nursing Home Dentists in Ohio

Oral Cancer Screening: Practices, Knowledge and Opinions of Ohio Nursing Home Dentists

RATIONALE: Learning about oral cancer screening practices, knowledge, and opinions of Ohio nursing home dentists may help the study of oral cancer in the future.

PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying oral cancer screening among nursing home dentists in Ohio.

OBJECTIVES:

• To develop a comprehensive sample of nursing home dentists in Ohio.
• To document knowledge of oral cancer detection among these dentists.
• To describe opinions of these dentists about oral cancer screening competency.
• To describe the current oral cancer screening practices of these dentists.

OUTLINE: Participants are stratified according to geographical location (urban vs rural).

A comprehensive sample of nursing home dentists practicing in Ohio are contacted through a recruitment letter and are asked to respond to questions regarding oral cancer screening practices, knowledge of oral cancer detection, and opinions about oral cancer screening using a newly developed survey, which is based on parts of an existing, pre-tested instrument (Oral Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Survey).

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Dentist practicing either full-time or part-time in a nursing home setting in the state of Ohio

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Not specified

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• Not specified