Dental Care Experience for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients in Southern Taiwan
Wen-Chen Wang1, Li-Min Lin1, Yuk-Kwen Chen1, Huey-Er Lee2
Dept. of Oral Pathology and Diagnosis1, Dept.of Prosthetics2,
Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Aim: As radiotherapy(RT) is a major treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, oral health care is never overemphasized. Here we present our experience in caring these patients. Material & methods: 171male and 61 female patients were collected between Jan. 1999 and Sep. 2004 in KMUH oral pathology and diagnosis dept. hospital charts were reviewed. Results: While presenting, about 80% patients were before RT, 44.8% were post chemotherapy(CT), and 90% were not surgical intervened. Approximately, 50% were clinical stage IV. Their mean age was 48.5, less than 40% of them had hobbies in either one of alcohol, betel quid or cigarettes. The caries teeth were 2.31, and extraction teeth before RT were 2.34 in average. 131 fluoride trays (56.5%) were delivered. During RT, 60% suffered from mucositis before the 3rd week, and it increased to 82.4% in the 4th week. 67.6% were suffered from candidiasis; herpes infection rate was 7.5%. The symptoms distribution would be different by their chemotherapy experiences. After RT, 67% have good dental compliance in follow-up if had a fluoride tray, on the contrary, near 80% were lost if no fluoride tray. Conclusion: This study showed, the more CT experienced, the more and earlier infection attacked. On the other hand, fluoride tray fabrication should be included for dentate patients as possible to increase their dental compliance.
