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Oral health‐related concerns, behavior, and communication with health care providers of patients with breast cancer: impact of different treatments
Author(s) -
Taichman L. Susan,
Poznak Catherine H.,
Inglehart Marita R.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
special care in dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.328
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1754-4505
pISSN - 0275-1879
DOI - 10.1111/scd.12266
Subject(s) - medicine , breast cancer , tamoxifen , dysgeusia , mucositis , cancer , oral health , chemotherapy , family medicine , gynecology , oncology , adverse effect
Aim The objectives are to compare responses of breast cancer (BCa) treatment groups (chemotherapy, tamoxifen, and aromatase inhibitors (AIs) to each other and a control regarding (a) subjective oral health, (b) oral health‐related behaviors, (c) oral health‐related concerns, and (d) communication with health care providers. Methods Survey data were collected from 140 postmenopausal BCa patients and 41 healthy postmenopausal control respondents. Results BCa patients reported on average more frequent mouth sores/mucositis (5‐point scale with 1 = never: 1.63 vs. 1.14; p < .01), glossadynia (1.60 vs. 1.07; p < .01), xerostomia (2.48 vs. 1.40; p < .01), and dysgeusia (2.10 vs. 1.46; p < .01) than the control respondents. Patients undergoing chemotherapy were more aware that cancer treatment can affect their oral health than patients on tamoxifen/AI (93% vs. 55%/56%; p < .001). BCa patients reported being more frequently informed by oncologists about oral health‐related effects of cancer treatment than by dentists. Oncologists/nurses were more likely to communicate about oral health‐related treatment effects with patients undergoing chemotherapy than patients on tamoxifen or AIs. Few BCa patients perceived dentists as knowledgeable about cancer treatment‐related oral concerns and trusted them less than oncologists. Conclusions BCa treatments impact oral health. Low percentages of BCa patients had received specific information about impacts of BCa treatments on oral health from their dentists.