European Journal of Prosthodontics and Restorative Dentistry

Oral Health Status of Patients Undergoing Treatment for Head and Neck Oncology in Northern Ireland

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Cover Date

June 2016

Print ISSN

0965-7452

Electronic ISSN

2396-8893

Vol

24

Issue

2

Abstract

Oral Health Status of Patients Undergoing Treatment for Head and Neck Oncology in Northern Ireland
Dr Ciaran Moore, Dr Simon Killough, Dr Neill Markey, Dr Lewis Winning, Dr Gerald McKenna

ABSTRACT
This study aimed to collect data on the oral health status of patients undergoing treatment for head and neck oncology across Northern Ireland. Data were collected on all patients referred to the Northern Ireland Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Oncology Team for discussion and treatment planning. Each patient underwent pre-treatment dental assessment in the Centre for Dentistry, Queen’s University Belfast, between June 2013 and November 2014. Data were collected from clinical oral examinations supplemented with intra-oral radiographs. During the course of the study 96 patients were assessed and the levels of dental disease observed in this cohort were high. On clinical examination 43% were diagnosed with caries and 46% with periodontal disease. Ten patients were completely edentate. The disease profile of this patient group presents significant challenges to dental services tasked with rendering patients dentally fit prior to undergoing oncology treatment.

Keywords
Oncology
Caries
Periodontal disease