Dental Caries in Children and Adolescents During and After Antineoplastic Chemotherapy.

OBJECTIVE: To assess caries incidence, intensity, and treatment in children and adolescents under/after antineoplastic treatment.

STUDY DESIGN: Patients with permanent and mixed dentition were divided into three groups of 60 patients each (5-18 years): CH - under chemotherapy; PCH - after chemotherapy; CG - generally healthy subjects. Caries incidence, intensity (DMFT/dmft, DMFS/dmfs), and mean numbers of teeth/surfaces with white spot lesions-WSL (D1+2 /d1+2 ) were assessed following the ICDAS-II criteria.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Mann-Whitney U test, significance at p≤0.05).

RESULTS: Caries incidence was significantly higher in PCH and CH (88.33% and 90%) than in CG (66.66%). Caries intensity was higher in both mixed and permanent dentition in patients under and after chemotherapy. The DMFS/DMFT correlation was the highest in PCH. Treatment indexes for primary and permanent teeth treatment were significantly lower in PCH and CH than CG.

CONCLUSION: Antineoplastic chemotherapy is associated with caries development and its high incidence during/after treatment. As dental hygiene was poor in patients under and after antineoplastic treatment, dental checkups need to be more frequent and thorough.