The importance of hospital dental care in the treatment of oral mucosite in pediatric oncological patients
Juliana Francisca Grossi Heleno
Hospital da Baleia, Brazil
: Dent Health Curr Res
Abstract
Annually, more than 300,000 new cases of child and adolescent cancer are diagnosed worldwide, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The numbers are no less alarming in Brazil, in which childhood cancer already reaches the second cause of death among children. The subject increasingly demands the implementation of emergency actions for prevention, early diagnosis and treatment, with a joint and multidisciplinary effort. Most cases require chemotherapeutic treatment, which often results in oral mucositis, the most frequently documented side effect in pediatric immunosuppressed pediatric patients. These oral lesions lead to a considerable impact of quality of life during treatment due to dysphagia, dysarthria, odynophagia and malnutrition. In addition, these injuries contribute to a gateway to opportunistic infections, discontinuation of treatment, longer hospital stay, hospital costs, and often lead to death in more severe cases. The Dentist plays a key role in the hospital setting to diagnose, treat and prevent such injuries. One of the treatments consists of low-intensity laser therapy, which has become one of the most recent and promising treatments, reducing the severity and duration of oral mucositis, and preventing future lesions. This study aims to show the effectiveness of laser therapy in reducing the degree and time of remission of pediatric oncology patients by chemotherapy. We will describe a series of cases, with a quantitative approach, in children from 0 to 19 years of age at a referral hospital in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, who had a diagnosis of oral mucositis after chemotherapeutic treatment. The group received daily sessions of Laser Therapy and to evaluate the lesions, a daily recording of the lesions was performed, following WHO protocol. Laser therapy has been shown to be effective in reducing the time of remission and severity of oral mucositis in infantojuvenis patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Biography
Juliana Francisca Grossi Heleno, graduated in dentistry from PUC-MG academic highlights PUC-MG 1997, 1998 and 1999 postgraduate in pediatric dentistry by UFMG post-graduate in fixed prosthodontics and periodontal surgery, UNIP-SP postgraduate in implantology APCD-SP qualification in Hospital Odontology Albert Einstein Hospital, SP endodontic professor at FUNORTE BH / Ipatinga, MG master in endodontics PUC, MG dental surgeon at Hospital of Baleia - BH Brazil
E-mail: julianagrossi@hotmail.com
