Abstract:

The consciousness of dental students about malignant lesions is very important for early diagnosis. The aim of this study is to investigate the levels of knowledge on malignity determination by evaluating the radiographic characteristics of lesions in panoramic radiographs by students at three different dental faculty. Three malignant, a benign tumor and three odontogenic cyst cases diagnosed histopathologically for the study were evaluated by 180 students in 4th and 5th classes. The students answered nine closed end questions for each image. The correct answers to the questions were determined by the common opinion of three specialists clinics. Each of the parameters students answered correctly was scored as +1 and the data was analyzed with identifying statistics, scores, independent sampling t test and ANOVA test (SPSS v22.0). The highest accuracy rate was found in the root resorption presence (90.8%) and the low accuracy rate was found in the assessment of the form of damage (62.2%. 5th grade students determined the limit of lesion (p=0,005) and the root resorption (p=0,004) significantly higher, while 4th grade students responded significantly more accurately (p=0,018) in determining the existence of expansion. The accuracy rate was 64% in the determination of the character of lesion, and the accuracy rate of students was 53.6% for malignant lesions, while 74.3% for benign lesions. There was no significant difference between classes (p=0,861) and faculties (p=0,872). Panoramic radiography is one of the widely used imaging methods for the assessment of the scars and it is necessary to be carefully examined for the pre-diagnosis of malignant-benign lesions. In light of the findings, it is found that dental degree training has contributed significantly to the radiographic assessment of injury. But it is believed that more comprehensive training programs on oral malignities will be useful to enhance students’ early diagnosis practices.

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