Oral health-related quality of life in Brazilian children, adolescents, and young adults undergoing cancer treatment

Introduction

Cancer is considered a major public health problem worldwide and may have an important impact on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). Thus, the present study aimed to assess OHRQoL in Brazilian patients aged 3 to 21 years undergoing cancer treatment.

Materials and Methods

In total, 121 patients receiving cancer treatment and 363 healthy individuals (control group) were evaluated. OHRQoL was assessed using an age-specific questionnaire, that is, the Brazilian versions of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS), the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ) 11-14-short version, the CPQ 8-10-short version, and the short-form of Oral Health Impact Profile Questionnaire-14 (OHIP-14).

Results

Individuals from the control group who were evaluated by the ECOHIS presented more impact on the OHRQoL regarding the psychological and family function score, as well as those evaluated by CPQ 8-10, who presented more impact in general. However, considering CPQ 11-14, cancer patients had their OHRQoL more affected, as shown in both the total questionnaire score and oral symptoms score.

Conclusion

Within the limitations of this Brazilian study, cancer treatment seems to be associated with decreased OHRQoL only in patients aged between 11 and 14 years. However, children without cancer aged between 8 and 10 years seem to experience worse OHRQoL.

Efficacy of an iodoform-based filling material for pulpectomy of primary teeth: A 24-month non-inferiority randomized clinical trial

AIM

The aim of this non-inferiority randomized clinical trial was to compare the efficacy of an iodoform-based paste (Guedes-Pinto -(GP)) as a filling material in pulpectomies of primary teeth, and a standard material composed by calcium hydroxide and iodoform (CaOH/Iodof paste; Vitapex^® ).

DESIGN

A total of 104 teeth from 61 children (3-8 years old) were randomly allocated to two groups according to filling materials. Children were followed up for 24 months. The primary endpoint was the treatment success rate evaluated through clinical and radiographic examinations at follow-up, and the secondary outcome was the analysis of the canal filling quality. Differences in the proportion of treatment success was calculated based on 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) and with the Miettinen and Nurminen method in the intention-to-treat population, considering a -20% of the non-inferiority limit.

RESULTS

From 104 randomized teeth, 102 were followed up after 24 months (attrition rate of 1.9%). The success rate of teeth treated with the GP paste was 86.8% (95% CI: 69.9-94.9) and 78.4% (95% CI: 61.8-89.1) with the CaOH/Iodof paste. Consequently, a non-inferiority of the GP paste was observed when compared to the CaOH/Iodof paste (P < .001).

CONCLUSION

The GP paste has a non-inferior success rate than the CaOH/Iodof paste used as filling material for pulpectomy in primary teeth.

Use of artificial primary teeth for endodontic laboratory research: experiments related to canal length determination

Background

Due to the scarcity of exfoliated/extracted human primary teeth with complete roots, artificial teeth were developed as an alternative to be used for educational and laboratory research purposes. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of using artificial primary teeth for conducting laboratory research through an experiment related to canal length determination, comparing artificial teeth with natural teeth.

Methods

Thirty anterior and 21 posterior artificial teeth, and the same number of natural primary teeth were selected. After preparing the access cavity, the root canal length was determined by two examiners twice using three different methods: radiography and two electronic apex locators. Then, the actual root canal length was measured by inserting a K-file up to the apical foramen (reference standard). Accuracy was calculated using Bland-Altman analysis and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The inter- and intra-examiner reproducibility was also calculated using the ICC.

Results

The methods using the electronic apex locators showed better accuracy in both artificial and natural teeth. Trends observed with artificial primary teeth were similar to those observed with natural teeth, except for the results in artificial anterior teeth.

Conclusions

The model of artificial teeth might be a good alternative for educational purposes; however, improvements are necessary to employ these teeth for research purposes when considering experiments for canal length determination.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12903-017-0420-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.