Dentist Kim Vlaanderen investigated oral health and dental development in childhood cancer survivors. She described the results collected at one of the three included centers, the UMC, VU location. The results from the three centers show that 36,3% of the participants had at least one dental developmental disorder. This study has been published in Cancers.
This cross-sectional study is part of the DCCSS (Dutch Childhood Cancer Survivor Study) LATER (LATER TERmijn) Study. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for dental developmental abnormalities and oral health problems in childhood cancer survivors more than 5 years after diagnosis.
Participants were included if the diagnosis of the malignancy was made between 1963 and 2001 in one of the seven pediatric oncology centers in the Netherlands, at an age between 0 and 17 years. Data was collected from February 2016 to March 2020 in three of the seven DCCSS LATER outpatient clinics in the Netherlands (LUMC, PMC, UMC location VU). The thesis described the results collected at the UMC, location VU. This summary concerns the results from all three centers, as described in the now published article (Stolze, J.; Vlaanderen, KCE; Holtbach, FCED; Teepen, JC; Kremer, LCM; Loonen, JJ; et al. Long-Term Effects of Childhood Cancer Treatment on Dentition and Oral Health: A Dentist Survey Study from the DCCSS LATER 2 Study. Cancers 2021, 13, 5264).
Research results
The study included research data from 154 survivors of childhood cancer, for whom information regarding their oral data was received from dentists (71,3%). The results show that 36,3% of the participants had at least one dental developmental disorder. The most common were shortened roots (14,6%), agenesis (14,3%), and microdontia (13,6%). In more than 19,9% of the participants, mandibular or maxillary premolars were affected by a developmental disorder. Risk factors for at least one developmental disorder were younger age at diagnosis (<3 years vs. >5 years, 2 times higher risk) and higher cumulative dose treatment with chemotherapy using alkylating agents (≥10,000 mg/m², 2.6 times higher risk). Agenesis mainly affected second premolars, and microdontia mainly first premolars. Shortened roots and hypomineralization affected all teeth. In survivors under 3 years of age at diagnosis, the prevalence of agenesis, microdontia, cone teeth, and persistent deciduous teeth was significantly higher compared to survivors over 3 years of age at diagnosis.
The information from this study is essential for dentists, dental hygienists, and pediatric oncologists and helps them improve the early detection, prevention, and dental care of oral health problems in childhood cancer survivors.
By: Kim Vlaanderen, dentist. She won second prize in the NVvK-Elmex® thesis prize competition with this research.