NEED OF EDU-CAN

• The lack of prevention and early detection of oral cancer by Oral health care providers are a worldwide drawback.
• As dental surgeons are the ones who routinely perform oral cavity examination, there is a need to educate them not to restrict themselves by observing only the chief complaint but also examine the oral cavity as a whole. They should be made aware about the complaints and appearance of precancerous conditions and oral cancer, how to examine them and also to make them reliant to giving appropriate timely referral and perform biopsy if and when the need arises.
• Increasing the public awareness and early diagnosis can significantly improve oral cancer surveillance and prevent the delaying factors. To achieve these, it is important to have sufficient knowledge and awareness among dentists for detection and early diagnosis.
• There is Social responsibility of all the Dental Professionals to treat the dental problems of patients undergoing any cancer treatment, chemotherapy and radiation that develops radiation caries, xerostomia, periodontal problems, mucositis etc.
• By doing so, we can diagnose the patient at a very early stage there by reducing the cancer related morbidity and mortality and also patients with potentially malignant disorders can be kept under close follow-up with the dentists. There is a need for systematic educational updates in oral cancer prevention and early detection.