Dental Awareness among Parents and Oral Health of Paediatric Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy

Abstract

Introduction: Dental care is often overlooked by the parents of children receiving treatment for cancer including chemotherapy who are in a phase of severe immunosuppression. Aim: (i) To study dental attitudes of parents of children receiving chemotherapy towards importance of dental care. (ii) To evaluate oral hygiene status and compare it with healthy controls. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire assessing the awareness towards dental care was given to the parents of 47 paediatric patients suffering from cancer receiving chemotherapy and to parents of 47 paediatric patients reporting to outpatient Department of Pedodontics at SGT Dental College. Oral examination was also carried out for both the groups and DMFT/ dmft, plaque and gingival index were noted. Results: Parents had a varying opinion regarding dental health of their child. The caries status of children in the control group was greater than children in the study group. The mean plaque index of children in the control group (1.40) was greater than children in the study group (1.34) which was statistically significant according to Mann-Whitney U test. The gingival health of children in the study group was better than children in the control group which was also not statistically significant. Conclusion: This study highlights need for a periodic referral of the child cancer patients to the paediatric dental clinic in hospitals for the timely dental care.

Keywords

• dmft/dmft index
• gingival index
• plaque index
• questionnaire