BMJ 1994;308:1372-3 (21 May)

Letters

Oral squamous cell carcinoma

EDITOR, - Iain L Hutchison discusses the problems of screening by general dental and medical practitioners1 but doesn't mention the opportunity to screen medical patients admitted to hospital. An oral examination should be part of clerking. Indeed, many such patients can be regarded as at risk in that they are commonly elderly and of low socioeconomic class and have disease related to alcohol or tobacco.

A simple oral examination with a wooden spatula and pen torch was carried out on 50 random patients (21 female, 29 male) admitted to the medical wards of a teaching hospital. Only 13 patients could recall an oral examination having been carried out, and in only five cases had any record been made in the notes. Interestingly two of these patients had been admitted with an oropharyngeal complaint and two had specifically complained about their mouths; the remaining patient had been admitted with HIV infection.

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Relevant Article

Improving the poor prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma
I L Hutchison
BMJ 1994 308: 669-670. [Extract] [Full Text]

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