Special Health Care Needs
Haejin Hwang, DMD
Resident
University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Kyounga Cheon, DMD, MS
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Guihua Zhai, PhD
Ctr For Clinical & Translational Science
Noel K. Childers, D.D.S., M.S., Ph.D
Professor Emeritus
University of Birmingham Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Janice G. Jackson, D.M.D
Program Director
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Oral Complications in Children with Cancer: Comparison with other Hematology Patients and from the 1990s, Hwang H, Zhai G, Cheon K, Childers NK, (University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL).
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the reported oral complications in children with cancer to others with hematologic conditions and from the 1990s data.
Methods: Pediatric cancer and hematology patients who were admitted to Children’s of Alabama were recorded on weekly dental service reports from 2015 to 2022. Oral complications included: gingival inflammation, mucositis, ulceration, candida infection and unmet dental needs (dental caries and abscessed teeth). Oral complications were determined by clinical and/or radiographic examinations by pediatric dental residents.
Results: A total of 139 patients in Hematology-Oncology clinic were reported with oral complications over the 7-year period. 4.59% of the patients developed oral complications (139/3026), in contrast to the results (42.1%) in 1990s. Compared to patients with non-cancer status (i.e. sickle cell anemia, aplastic anemia, hemophilia and other autoimmune disorders), pediatric cancer patients experienced significantly more mucositis (P < 0.05), followed by ulceration and gingival inflammation. Furthermore, children with cancer were found to have significantly more unmet dental needs (P < 0.001). 72.7% of the cancer patients had unmet dental needs, which is 7.3% decrease from 1990s.
Conclusion: Compared to results from 1990s, the current study demonstrated decreased prevalence of overall oral complications as well as unmet dental needs among pediatric cancer patients.