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Abstract

This is a narrative literature review, regarding the role of the dental surgeon in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of oral toxicities related to cancer treatment. A comprehensive and random search was performed for scientific articles published on the subject in question. Articles available in the Pubmed, Scielo, Cochrane, and Google Scholar databases were investigated in Portuguese and English, without a time interval specification.The research was conducted using different combinations of the following keywords: "surgery", "chemotherapy", "hematopoietic stem cell transplantation", "antiresorptive medications", "radiotherapy", "oral toxicities", "dental management" and "cancer patients". Full articles that addressed the theme, published in scientific journals, without restriction as to the methodology were included. However, book chapters and abstracts of meetings were excluded. Results and discussionThe search resulted in 100 selected articles, consisting of 3 systematic reviews with meta-analysis, 9 systematic reviews, 48 literature reviews, 3 randomized clinical trials, 4 prospective cohorts, 12 retrospective cohorts, 5 cross-sectional studies, 2 case-control studies, 5 case reports, 7 expert consensus panels, 1 letter to the editor and 1 qualitative study, published between 1976 and 2020.The articles approach dental care for patients who will be, are being, or have been subjected to surgery and radiotherapy (RT) for head and neck (H&N) cancer, chemotherapy (CT), hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), and the use of antiresorptive medications. Dental procedures were classified according to the time of treatment: prior, during, or after each therapeutic modality addressed, when applicable.