Dental abnormalities in children submitted to antineoplastic therapy

The purpose of this study was to assess, by panoramic radiographs, the prevalence of morphological dental changes in children with cancer who were submitted for chemotherapy alone or concomitant radiotherapy of the head and neck.

All patients admitted between March, 1996 and February, 2004 were analyzed and 137 were included in this retrospective, nonrandomized, institutional study. The rates of microdontia, taurodontia, anodontia, macrodontia, blunt root, and tapered root were assessed.

The patients were distributed into 2 groups: (1) those with lymphoproliferative neoplasias (61%); and (2) those with solid tumors (39%). Their mean age when treatment began was 5 years and 6 months. Dental abnormalities were found in 39 (29%) patients, while 98 (72%) patients did not present any abnormality. The abnormalities found were: (1) microdontia (7%; N= 10); (2) anodontia (6%; N=8); (3) taurodontia (14%; N=19); (4) macrodontia (5%; N=7); (5) blunted root (2%; N=2); and (6) tapered root (4%; N=5). Of these patients: 22% (N=30) presented 1 abnormality; 4% (N=6) presented 2 abnormalities; and 2% (N=3) presented 3 abnormalities.

Taurodontia was the most frequent abnormality found in children and adolescents who underwent antineoplastic treatment, and its rate was significantly higher than those found for the healthy Brazilian population. This study's results show that it is necessary for the odontologist to systematically research the dental changes that occur among this special group of patients.