Effectiveness of "OralDETECT": a Repetitive Test-enhanced, Corrective Feedback Method Competency Assessment Tool for Early Detection of Oral Cancer

Early diagnosis of oral cancer results in less aggressive treatment and improves the quality of life and overall 5-year survival rate. Well-trained dental professionals can play a crucial role in the early detection of oral cancers. The present study aims to determine the effectiveness of the training program "OralDETECT", a spaced repetitive, test-enhanced learning tool with a corrective feedback mechanism for early detection of oral cancer. Thirty-two dentists and 259 dental students from three Malaysian dental schools were involved in this study. All participants were trained and calibrated to recognize oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) and oral cancer using "OralDETECT", which is comprised of a series of pre-test, lecture, post-tests and review sessions. The percentage of correct answers (scores) for each test given by the participants was calculated and analysed using a paired t test. It was found that the overall percentage of diagnostic accuracy for both dental professionals and student groups increased to above 80% from the pre-tests to the final post-tests. There was a significant improvement in overall scores between the pre-tests and all three post-tests for the dental professional groups and the student groups. The diagnostic accuracy for individual OPMD and lesions suspicious of oral cancer also increased to above 80% for both groups. The results of our study demonstrate that the "OralDETECT" is an efficient and effective competency tool which can be used to train dental professionals and students for the early detection of OPMD and oral cancer.