Strategies for the dentist management of cancer patients: narrative literature review

Aim: To present the dental procedures necessary for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of oral toxicities related to cancer treatment. Material and methods: A narrative literature review was carried out regarding the topics of interest. Articles in Portuguese and English, without the restriction of the year of publication and full text available in the databases Pubmed, Scielo, Cochrane, and Google Scholar were investigated. Results: Through this search, 100 articles were selected, consisting of 9 systematic reviews, 3 systematic reviews with meta-analysis, 48 literature reviews, 3 randomized clinical trials, 4 prospective cohorts, 12 retrospective cohorts, 5 cross-sectional studies, 2 case-control studies, 5 case reports, 7 expert consensus panels, 1 letter to the editor and 1 qualitative study, published between 1976 and 2020. Dental procedures were classified according to the therapeutic modality (surgery and radiotherapy for head and neck cancer, chemotherapy, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and use of antiresorptive medications) and the time of treatment (prior, during, or after each one). Conclusions: The consulted articles were unanimous regarding the need for dental care for cancer patients in the pre, trans, and post-treatment, highlighting the importance of inserting specialized dental surgeons in the oncology patient care team; thus, this professional should act in the prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment of oral toxicities, to minimize their consequences and improve patients’ quality of life.