Chemical protection against postirradiation dental caries

Experience with dental caries in twenty-four patients receiving irradiation for malignant lesions of the head and neck demonstrates the critical importance of cooperation by the patient, a program of strict oral hygiene, and daily self-treatment with 0.4 per cent stannous fluoride gel. The ravaging form of dental caries associated with the postirradiation period can be essentially eliminated in cooperating patients. In nine patients who were uncooperative, fifty-seven crowns were amputated and an additional seventy-five carious surfaces were found 3.75 years after irradiation. In six patients who cooperated and used the gel on a daily basis, no crowns were amputated and only one carious area was found over the same time period.