Dental caries in childhood cancer survivors

To investigate and compare the prevalence and experience of dental caries in childhood cancer survivors (CCS) with that in healthy controls.

A total of 113 CCS (0-18 years) who completed cancer treatment between 2017 and 2021 at Haukeland University Hospital were invited. Two healthy controls per CCS were randomly selected from the Norwegian National Population Register and matched by age and sex. Decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT/dmft) and surfaces (DMFS/dmfs) were used as indices of dental caries experience. The difference in the number of affected teeth/surfaces per patient between CCS and controls was assessed via Poisson regression, with a significance level of 0.05.

A total of 97 CCS (85.8%) provided consent and completed the clinical examinations. The mean age among CCS was 10.4 years. Among both the CCS (34/97) and healthy controls (68/194), 35.1% had d_3-5mft and/or D_3-5MFT > 0. The mean d_3-5mft and/or D_3-5MFT was 1.15 in CCS and 0.96 in controls. A significantly greater degree of caries experience (d_3-5mfs and/or D_3-5MFS, p < 0.001; d_3-5mft and/or D_3-5MFT, p = 0.002) was observed in the CCS group than in the healthy control group for mixed dentition. No significant associations were found for the other dentitions or for d_1-5mfs and/or D_1-5MFS or d_1-5mft and/or D_1-5MFT.

This study compared caries experience in CCS and matched healthy controls and found no overall differences at the tooth level, indicating that awareness and follow-up of oral health in paediatric cancer patients may play a role in limiting caries development and disease burden.