August 2015 ■ Journal of Dental Education 959 Ability of Dental Students in Spain to Identify Potentially Malignant Disorders and Oral Cancer

Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, to diagnose oral cancer and other potentially malignant disorders, as well as to compare their ability at different stages of the learning process and evaluate their knowledge retention. Students were surveyed after they had studied oral medi-cine and oral pathology at two time points: midway through and near the end of their studies. The survey consisted of questions about 40 photographs of benign oral lesions, malignant oral lesions, and potentially malignant disorders. The response rate for all groups was greater than 70%. The results showed that these students ’ overall success rate in differentiating benign from malig-nant lesions averaged 73.9%. When the distinction for potentially malignant disorders was included, their average overall success rate decreased to 42.8 % (p<0.001). Furthermore, the students ’ average success rate was at its lowest at the end of the dental program (p<0.001). Results from this study suggest that, given these students ’ difficulties in identifying potentially malignant disorders, an increased emphasis on cancer education in the dental curriculum may be needed for future practitioners to maste