Awareness of oral biopsy procedure among dentists: A web-based cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Various diagnostic procedures are available to reach a diagnosis in case of oral lesions/conditions. Biopsy is one of the important tools for confirmatory diagnosis. Therefore, the dentist should have adequate awareness regarding oral biopsy procedures. Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine the awareness of oral biopsy procedure among dentists in Haryana. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted among dentists in Haryana, India, using a 16-item close-ended questionnaire. Google Forms was prepared via docs.google.com/forms, and the link was sent to the participants via social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Viber. The filled questionnaires were extracted from Google Forms and exported to Microsoft Excel 2016. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage were calculated to present the data using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software, version 21. Results: Out of 68, only 35.3% and 50% of the dental surgeons were aware that the removal of tissue by laser or electrosurgery can introduce artifacts or tissue distortion and punch biopsy generally produces few artifacts within the biopsied sample, respectively. Among the respondents, 35.3% and 11.8% responded that formaldehyde and normal saline also can be used for fixation of the biopsy sample. Conclusion: Awareness of oral biopsy technique was not up to date among majority of the dentists. Eminent steps should be taken to increase the awareness of biopsy procedure among them.