Oral Health After Breast Cancer Chemotherapy-a Retrospective Study

Objectives: In the last decades the number of women suffering from breast cancer has increased.
Due to preventive programs and improved treatment protocols, the overall survival rate has rised. However, the side effects attributed to chemotherapy are tremendous. In this retrospective study the impact of chemotherapy on women’s oral health suffering from breast cancer was investigated.

Methods: A total of 70 women aged 50-80 years who suffered from breast cancer after successful chemotherapy were enrolled in this study. Healthy aged matched women served as controls. After the positive consent of the local ethics committee the respective women were attributed to a dental examination and had to fill out questionnaires on their general well being (OHIP, HADS), smoking habits; BMI and education levels.
Medical anamnestic data, e.g the breast cancer type and the chemotherapy protocol were equally recorded. The dental investigation included the number of teeth, caries frequency, number of crowns as well as the presence of periodontal diseases (CPI). With the help of x-rays, the number of root canal fillings and apical lesions were recorded.

Results: In comparison to the healthy controls, women after cancer therapy showed a higher number of missing teeth, more root canal fillings and apical lesions. The number of indirect restorations was similar and no difference with regard to the periodontal situation could be established. However, the general well being of the patients marked as OHIP and HADS- scores was significantly reduced as opposed to the healthy controls.

Conclusions: Chemotherapy is known to have multiple side effects. The present study was able to prove that women undergoing chemotherapy after a breast cancer diagnosis showed an unfavorable oral health status with an elevated number of missing teeth and root canal fillings compared to healthy controls.