The acute effects of chemotherapy upon the oral cavity: Prevention and management

The oral and dental complications arising in cancer patients can be attributable to the malignant disease itself and to the various modalities of cancer therapy. Up to 40% of all patients receiving cancer chemotherapy develop acute oral complications. Oral complications may result in significant morbidity, impaired nutrition, treatment delays, and dose reductions which are affecting the prognosis of the primary disease. Many investigators have developed a series of clinical trials designed to study treatment modalities for these pathologic processes. These trials have demonstrated clinically helpful therapies and also have demonstrated lack of benefit for other proposed treatments. In this article we aimed to assess acute oral complications in cancer patients due to chemotherapy and review the recent treatment modalities for prevention and management of those complications since these changes in physiologic process are still problems that need further investigation. [Turk J Cancer 2001;31(3):93-105]