Oral health-related quality of life before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Abstract

The negligence of oral care, proper hygiene, and the search for dental care may increase the risk for local and systemic infections.

Oral health and dental morbidity in long‐term allogeneic blood and marrow transplant survivors in Australia

“…Interestingly, despite the significant effects that chemo‐radiotherapy can have on the oral cavity, in our study dental disease and symptoms were not associated with a reduced quality of life score. This is consistent with other studies of both autologous and allogeneic BMT survivors and onco‐haematological patients, which have described weak, non‐significant association between dental/oral disease and decreased QoL when compared with healthy controls. The explanation for this finding is uncertain but may be because oral health becomes less of a priority and oral symptoms have less of an impact when a patient has been diagnosed and treated for cancer, has had to face the possibility of dying and has been separated from the family and friends and all that is familiar to them …”

Periodontal status of candidates for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

“…The lack of information and the mistaken self‐perception of oral health are often responsible for neglected oral care and a low demand for dental care by candidates for HSCT . Patients waiting for transplantation are generally in a period of stress, maybe leading to a reduced perception of oral problems . Data from this study showed that most of the candidates for HSCT had not received orientation on oral care previous to transplantation and about 45% of them considered their oral health to be good.…”

The oral management of oncology patients requiring radiotherapy, chemotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation

“…Seventy-four percent reported at least one unmet need, the most common being oral and eating problems (Kraaijenga et al, 2015) (Wells et al, 2015) (Wilberg et al, 2014) (Kamstra et al, 2013) (Roe et al, 2012). Haemato-oncology patients equally experience poorer quality of life when measured using the parameters of oral functional limitation, physical pain and physical disability (Tinoco-Araujo et al, 2015) (Mays et al, 2013). These difficulties can be improved by carefully planned oral and dental assessment, early intervention and reconstruction (Butterworth et al, 2016).…”