Oral Oncology and Oral Medicine Fellowship for the General Dentist †
1
Department of Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA 02115, USA
2
Division of Oral Medicine and Dentistry, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
3
DentaQuest Foundation, Boston, MA 02129, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the XV National and III International Congress of the Italian Society of Oral Pathology and
Medicine (SIPMO), Bari, Italy, 17–19 October 2019.
Proceedings 2019, 35(1), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2019035023
Published: 11 December 2019
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of The XV National and III International Congress of the Italian Society of Oral Pathology and Medicine)
1. Aim or Purpose
Cancer patients and survivors are increasing [1] and may present with unique oral health needs. The majority of dentists do not have adequate education [2], training and experience [3] in the management of toxicities secondary to cancer therapy [4]. As such, we implemented a new oral oncology and oral medicine fellowship to meet these needs. The goal of this study was to determine the number of cancer patient visits, patient demographic information, and diagnoses in a single center training program.
2. Materials and Methods
A retrospective electronic medical record review was conducted from October 2018 till January 2019 for all patients seen by the fellow while rotating through the medical oncology departments at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Patients were evaluated by the medical oncologist and the fellow at each visit. Data were tabulated into an electronic spreadsheet and descriptive statistics were used.
3. Results
586 patients (349 females, 59.6%) with a median age of 62 (range: 25-88) were seen. Of all patients seen, 402 (68.6%) had cancer. The most common cancer diagnoses included hematologic (179; 44.5%), head and neck (77; 18.6%), breast (73; 18.1%), thoracic (22; 5.5%) and bone malignancies (17; 4.2%).Oral complications were present in 96 (23.8%) patients and included dry mouth (60; 14.9%), ulcers (49; 12.2%), and chronic GHVD (25; 6.2%).Over the year, 122 procedures were performed (which 67.2% represented surgical extractions and biopsies) and 196 prescriptions for medications were done. Patients affected by head and neck cancer (35/77; 45.4%) and hematologic malignancies (55/179; 30.7%) had the highest risk of presenting with oral toxicities.
4. Conclusions
Oral complications from cancer therapy are common and may require a multidisciplinary approach. Adequately trained dentists are a valuable resource for the community to provide safe and effective oral care for oncology patients.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funding sponsors had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to publish the results.
References
- Shapiro, C.L. Cancer Survivorship. N. Engl. J. Med. 2018, 379, 2438–2450. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Cannick, G.F.; Horowitz, A.M.; Drury, T.F.; Reed, S.G.; Day, T.A. Assessing oral cancer knowledge among dental students in South Carolina. J. Am. Dent. Assoc. 2005, 136, 373–378. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Carter, L.M.; Ogden, G.R. Oral cancer awareness of general medical and general dental practitioners. Bdj 2007, 203, E10. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Dyer, G.; Brice, L.; Schifter, M.; Gilroy, N.; Kabir, M.; Hertzberg, M.; Greenwood, M.; Larsen, S.R.; Moore, J.; Gottlieb, D.; et al. Oral health and dental morbidity in long-term allogeneic blood and marrow transplant survivors in Australia. Aust. Dent. J. 2018, 63, 312–319. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. |
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
MDPI and ACS Style
Fantozzi, P.J.; Monopoli, M.; Villa, A. Oral Oncology and Oral Medicine Fellowship for the General Dentist. Proceedings 2019, 35, 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2019035023
AMA Style
Fantozzi PJ, Monopoli M, Villa A. Oral Oncology and Oral Medicine Fellowship for the General Dentist. Proceedings. 2019; 35(1):23. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2019035023
Chicago/Turabian StyleFantozzi, Paolo Junior, Michael Monopoli, and Alessandro Villa. 2019. "Oral Oncology and Oral Medicine Fellowship for the General Dentist" Proceedings 35, no. 1: 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2019035023
