In honor of Oral Cancer Awareness Month in April, HPU’s Workman School of Dental Medicine and Survey Research Center collaborated on the following poll.

HIGH POINT, N.C.– A new High Point University Poll recently conducted in honor of Oral Cancer Awareness Month in April finds more than half (58%) of North Carolina residents have not had a dental exam for oral cancer. Another one-third (35%) of poll respondents said that they have been examined.

Over three-quarters (76%) of North Carolinians said they were not aware that April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month, while 18% said they were aware.

The HPU Poll also asked how long it has been since they last visited a dentist or a dental clinic for any reason. Nearly half (48%) said it had been between one to 12 months, another 16% said one to two years, 18% said two to five years and 12% said it was five or more years.

More than one-quarter (27%) of poll respondents said they had a conversation with a dentist, a hygienist or another dental professional in the past year about the importance of examining your mouth for oral cancer. About one-quarter said that in the past year they had a conversation with a dental professional about the benefits of giving up cigarettes or other types of tobacco to improve their dental health (24%) and that diseases of the teeth, gums and mouth are related to conditions such as diabetes, heart disease or Alzheimer’s disease (24%).

Only about one in five poll respondents had conversations with their dentists in the past  year about mouth diseases related to underlying nutritional deficiencies and food intolerances (21%), the dental health benefits of checking their blood sugar (20%), and that mouth disease can include allergies, autoimmune conditions and be related to inflammatory bowel disorders (19%).

Aside from brushing their teeth with a toothbrush, respondents were asked if they had used dental floss or any other device to clean between their teeth in the last seven days. One-quarter (25%) said that they flossed every day, and 21% said that they didn’t floss at all in the past week.

The poll also asked North Carolinians how many of their permanent teeth have been removed because of tooth decay or gum disease. Almost half (44%) said that none of their teeth had to be removed because of tooth decay or gum disease. About one-third (32%) said between one and five teeth have been removed, 13% said six or more but not all and 7% said all of their teeth had been removed.

About one-third (33%) of respondents said they have never had painful aches anywhere in their mouth in the past year. Another one-quarter (24%) said hardly ever, while 20% said occasionally and 12% said fairly often. Only 9% said they very often have painful aching anywhere in their mouth in the past year.

“The data from our survey echoes the national trends and how we need to do more to create an awareness on the importance of oral health and how it is inseparable from overall health,” says Dr. Ali Shazib, Chief Clinical Officer, HPU Oral Health System. “With April being Oral Cancer Awareness Month, I urge you to visit your healthcare provider. Your dentist can perform a thorough examination and be able to detect for early findings of oral cancer and other systemic conditions, such as Crohn’s disease, nutritional deficiencies, autoimmune conditions and infections. These two minutes of a thorough examination can potentially save lives.”

NC residents – Oral Cancer Awareness (March 2023)

Are you aware that April is Oral Cancer Awareness month?

Yes – 18%

No – 76%

Unsure – 6%

NC residents – Last Visited Dentist (March 2023)

How long has it been since you last visited a dentist or a dental clinic for any reason?

1-12 months – 48%

1-2 years – 16%

2-5 years – 18%

5 or more years – 12%

Never – 1%

Unsure – 4%

NC residents – Painful Aching (March 2023)

How often during the last year have you had painful aching anywhere in your mouth? Would you say:

Very often – 9%

Fairly often – 12%

Occasionally – 20%

Hardly ever – 24%

Never – 33%

Unsure – 2%

NC residents – Flossing (March 2023)

Aside from brushing your teeth with a toothbrush, in the last seven days, how many days did you use dental floss or any other device to clean between your teeth?

0 days – 21%  

1 day – 9%   

2 days – 11%   

3 days – 10%   

4 days – 9%   

5 days – 8%   

6 days – 4%   

7 days – 25%

Unsure – 4%  

NC residents – Dental Professional Conversations (March 2023)

In the past 12 months, did a dentist, hygienist or other dental professional have a direct conversation with you about…[Items presented in a random order]
	Yes	No	Unsure
...the benefits of giving up cigarettes or other types of tobacco to improve your dental health?	24	68	7
...the dental health benefits of checking your blood sugar?	20	72	8
...the importance of examining your mouth for oral cancer?	27	66	7
...that mouth disease can include allergies, autoimmune conditions, and be related to inflammatory bowel disorders?	19	73	8
...that mouth diseases can be related to underlying nutritional deficiencies and food intolerances?	21	72	7
...that diseases of the teeth, gums, and mouth are related to conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease?	24	68	8

NC residents – Oral Cancer Exam (March 2023)

Have you ever had an exam for oral cancer in which the doctor or dentist pulls on your tongue, sometimes with gauze wrapped around it, and feels under the tongue and inside the cheeks?

Yes – 35%

No – 58%

Unsure – 7%

NC residents – Permanent Teeth Removed (March 2023)

How many of your permanent teeth have been removed because of tooth decay or gum disease? Do not include teeth lost for other reasons, such as injury or orthodontics.

1 to 5 – 32%

6 or more but not all – 13%

All – 7%

None – 44%

Unsure – 4%

The most recent HPU Poll of 1,004 respondents was fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center on March 23 through March 28, as an online survey using a panel of respondents recruited and maintained by Dynata. Dynata sent invitations to its panel of N.C. respondents and the SRC collected responses on its Qualtrics platform. The SRC did all data analysis. The online sample is from a panel of respondents, and their participation does not adhere to usual assumptions associated with random selection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to assign a classic margin of sampling error for the results. In this case, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points to account for a traditional 95% confidence interval for the estimates (plus or minus 3.1 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.1 (based on the weighting). The data is weighed toward population estimates for age, gender, race/ethnicity and education based on U.S. Census numbers for North Carolina. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional errors into the findings of opinion polls.

Further results and methodological details from the most recent survey and past surveys can be found at the Survey Research Center website. The materials online include past press releases as well as memos summarizing the findings (including approval ratings) for each poll since 2010.

The HPU Poll reports methodological details in accordance with the standards set out by AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, and the HPU Survey Research Center is a Charter Member of the Initiative.

You can follow the HPU Poll on Twitter.

Dr. Martin Kifer, chair and associate professor of political science, serves as the director of the HPU Poll, and Brian McDonald is the associate director of the HPU Poll.

CONTACT: Cinde Ingram 

Writer and Editor

336-841-9258

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