Among other types of cancers in Sri Lanka, oral cancer is the most common type of cancer find in men. Most importantly, the death rate due to oral cancer is 3 per day in Sri Lanka. The majority of the affected people belong to lower socio-economic groups such as farmers, laborers and plantation workers who are addicted to betel chewing, snuff dipping, smoking, areca nut chewing and unhealthy consumption of alcohol.
Polonnaruwa district is highly dependent on agriculture and the risk factors mentioned above are directly related to the lifestyle of the people. Therefore, the risk factors for oral cancer can be prevented, and most of the cases can be detected at early stages by implementing this program.
To address this issue, the Regional Dental Surgeon has submitted a proposal under the PHC Innovation Fund, which plans to hold 72 sessions, as a pilot in Aththanakadawala, Medirigiriya and Aralaganwila MOH Areas. Also, the Regional Dental Surgeon has created a booklet considering the literacy level of the people for the prevention and early detection of oral cancer in a simple way for easy understanding and has placed 30 display boards in the respective areas.
The Oral Cancer Prevention Program is scheduled to be held on public holidays and the first program was held on 17th March 2022 at DH Aththanakadawala with the participation of 50 villagers. In this first program, four cases with Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMD) were detected and two of them were referred to the Oral and Maxillofacial (OMF) clinic while the other two monitoring.
There are no Community Dental Surgeons appointed for active screening of oral cancer in the Polonnaruwa District. Therefore, this program is designed to strengthen the OPMD screening by utilizing the off days of the Government Dental Surgeons who are appointed for hospital clinical work.