Mainali Apeksha, Sumanth K N, Ongole Ravikiran, Denny Ceena
Department of Oral Diagnosis, Oral Medicine & Oral Pathology, Faculty of Dentistry, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Melaka, Malaysia.
Indian J Dent Res. 2011 Sep-Oct;22(5):669-72. doi: 10.4103/0970-9290.93454.
Mouth and pharyngeal cancers account for approximately 6% of cancers worldwide. Radiotherapy is one of the means of treatment of head and neck cancer. Consultation with a dental team experienced in caring for patients undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer will improve the quality of life of such patients.
To evaluate the attitude of oncologists toward dental consultation to patients planning for/prior to/undergoing/post radiation therapy for head and neck cancers and to evaluate the number of radiation oncologists who encounter oral complaints and consider worth referring to a dentist.
A questionnaire-based study was carried out following mailing of covering letter and self-administered questionnaire comprising 11 items, to 25 radiation oncology centers selected in India based on convenient sampling.
Out of the 25 centers, we received response from 20 centers with 60 completely filled questionnaires. Five centers did not respond for further correspondences.
The study indicated a need for awareness and education among radiation oncologists regarding dental consultation in patients planned/undergoing /post radiation therapy for head and neck cancer.
口腔癌和咽癌约占全球癌症的6%。放射治疗是头颈癌的治疗手段之一。与在照顾头颈癌患者治疗方面经验丰富的牙科团队进行会诊，将改善此类患者的生活质量。
评估肿瘤学家对头颈癌放疗计划前/放疗前/放疗期间/放疗后患者进行牙科会诊的态度，并评估遇到口腔问题并认为值得转介给牙医的放射肿瘤学家的数量。
基于方便抽样，向印度选定的25个放射肿瘤中心邮寄了包含11个项目的附信和自填式问卷后，开展了一项基于问卷的研究。
在25个中心中，我们收到了20个中心的回复，共60份填写完整的问卷。5个中心未回复后续通信。
该研究表明，有必要提高放射肿瘤学家对头颈癌放疗计划前/放疗期间/放疗后患者牙科会诊的认识并对其进行教育。
