DENTAL STATUS AND ORAL HYGIENE IN PATIENTS WITH HEAD AND NECK-CANCER

Poor oral hygiene is believed to play a role as a risk factor for head and neck cancer. especially for oral cancer. Only few epidemiologic d ata exist about dental status and oral hygiene in these patients. WE p erformed a case-control study involving 100 patients with squamous cel l carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract and 214 age- and sex-matc hed control subjects with no known tumorous disease. In the tumor pati ents, oral hygiene and dental status proved to be significantly worse: the majority of the tumor patients seldom or never brushed their teet h and the frequency of dental visits was significantly lower. Tartar o f 3 mm or more was found in 40.9% of the tumor patients and in 22% of the control subjects. In the tumor group, the incidence of decayed tee th was significantly higher compared with the control subjects. Chroni c inflammation of the gingiva was observed in 28% of the tumor patient s vs. 13.5% in the control group. Oral hygiene was negatively correlat ed with alcohol as well as with tobacco consumption. The social status of subjects also correlated with oral hygiene, which was found to be worst in subjects from the lower social strata. The present study reve aled a poor dental status and oral hygiene in patients with head and n eck cancer. The pathogenetic mechanism being associated with this susp ected risk factor remains to be investigated