Evaluation of knowledge and awareness of dentists and dental students about human papillomavirus vaccination and oropharyngeal cancer relationship

Abstract

Objective: As the incidence of oropharyngeal cancer associated with human papillomavirus has increased rapidly in recent years, the role of dentists on this issue is also increasing. This study aims to determine the knowledge and awareness of dentists and dental students about human papillomavirus vaccination and the relationship of oropharyngeal cancer.

Methods: A total of 209 participants, consisting of 82 dentists and 127 dental students filled out the questionnaires about the general human papillomavirus knowledge, human papillomavirus - oropharyngeal cancer relationship, and human papillomavirus vaccination. The Fisher Exact and the Mann Whitney U tests were used for determining the difference between the two groups.

Results: The majority of the respondents answered the general questions about human papillomavirus correctly. Almost all of the participants in our study were found to have high awareness about the human papillomavirus - oropharyngeal cancer relationship, most of them did not have enough information about the human papillomavirus - related oropharyngeal cancers have a better prognosis than other oropharyngeal cancers. Both dentists and dental students stated that they did not think they had enough information about human papillomavirus vaccination. Dental students were more conscious and more motivated than dentists in recommending human papillomavirus vaccination to their patients (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Our study showed that dentists and dentistry students had a high level of knowledge in general subjects related to human papillomavirus. It was determined that the knowledge of both groups was insufficient regarding the human papillomavirus - oropharyngeal cancer relationship and human papillomavirus vaccination, and the participants were eager to overcome these shortcomings.