Patterns of dental attendance before referral V3.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A case series study on patterns of dental attendance before urgent referral.
IRAS ID
326504
Contact name
Joshua Yong Jin Cheng
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen Mary University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 2 days
Research summary
The incidence of oral cancer in England is on the rise. It is well reported that early detection of oral cancer improves survival rates and reduces morbidity. As dentists play a vital role in the early diagnosis of oral cancer, there is more development of early diagnosis initiatives in the dental setting. However, there is a debate about the effectiveness of such initiatives since those at higher risk of oral cancer may not be regular attendees of dental practices.
It is well documented in the literature that individuals who never or irregularly attend the dentist are more likely to be incident cases of oral cancer. However, there are limited studies investigating the relationship between dental attendance and staging of oral cancer.In light of England’s rising oral cancer incidence and the conflicting evidence regarding the feasibility of opportunistic oral cancer screening in dental practices, research is warranted to investigate the dental attendance of patients prior to their diagnosis of oral cancer in England. As such, this study intends to carry out in-depth analysis of the patients’ dental attendance in terms of the number of dental visits, frequency of dental visits, reasons for visiting and barriers to dental care prior to urgent referral for suspected oral cancer. In addition, this study will evaluate whether a frequency of dental attendance has an association with the stage of diagnosis of oral cancer as no research of such kind has been carried out in the UK. This study will be targeted at patients within the Tower Hamlets Borough, an area where oral cancer incidence has been increasing and the proportion of adults assessing dental care is low. This will also provide insight to patients’ barriers to dental care. Thus, this will help clarify the potential reach of early diagnosis initiatives in dental practices and direct the appropriate resources in this area.
REC name
Wales REC 3
REC reference
24/WA/0103
Date of REC Opinion
8 Apr 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion