CARIES-RELATED SALIVARY MICROORGANISMS AND SALIVARY FLOW-RATE IN BONE-MARROW RECIPIENTS

Cancer treatments often induce oral complications. In this study we in vestigate longitudinally the salivary gland function, the salivary car ies-related microorganisms, and buffer capacity in bone marrow recipie nts. Stimulated saliva samples were taken midmorning. The salivary fac tors were studied in 42 patients from before transplant until 4 months after transplant. A dramatic reduction (66%) of salivary flow rate is noticed in all patients at 1 month after transplant, and only a parti al recovery (42% reduction) is seen after 4 months. A clear shift towa rd a lower buffer capacity and a higher amount of cariogenic microorga nisms is seen posttransplant. This shift is more pronounced when total body irradiation was included in the pretransplant conditioning thera py. These findings indicate that the studied parameters in transplant recipients can contribute to a higher caries risk and oral complicatio ns during the early posttransplant period.