Chemotherapy-Induced Oral Complications and Prophylaxis Strategies

Abstract

Cancer is currently a significant therapeutic challenge and is frequently connected with numerous adverse effects. Despite many improvements in chemotherapy, oral complications are common, leading to poor quality of life and chemotherapeutic dose reduction, which impair survival. This review summarizes the most common dental complications in patients receiving chemotherapy. We mainly focus on oral mucositis as it is a major cause of dose-limiting toxicity. Furthermore, oral candidiasis, viral infections, and xerostomia will be discussed. Conclusions: preventing complications is significantly more important than treating them. All patients beginning systemic anticancer treatment should undergo a thorough oral examination and get appropriate prophylaxis.

Keywords:

• Chemotherapy toxicity
• oral complication
• mucositis
• prevention action
• oral health care

Author contributions

Conceptualization A.Ś., P.Ś.; methodology A.Ś.; software A.Ś., P.Ś.; formal analysis A.Ś.; investigation A.Ś.; resources A.Ś.; data curation A.Ś.; writing—original draft preparation A.Ś.; writing—review and editing A.Ś., M.B., and O.K.; visualization A.Ś., M.B., supervision O.K., funding acquisition O.K. All authors: read the final version and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All data relevant to this study are reported within the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.