Increasing the intensity of radiation therapy and chemotherapy in the management of cancer has increased the incidence of adverse effects, especially oral mucositis. a bibliographical review was conducted on the definition of oral mucositis, its clinical findings, the incidence, its etiology, the pathophysiology, associated morbidity, prevention and treatment. current studies define oral mucositis as a very frequent and painful inflammation with ulcers on the oral mucosa that are covered by a pseudo membrane. The incidence and severity of lesions are influenced by patient and treatment variables. Oral mucositis is a result of two major mechanisms: direct toxicity on the mucosa and myelosuppression due to the treatment. Its pathophysiology is composed of four interdependent phases: an initial inflammatory/vascular phase; an epithelial phase; an ulcerative/bacteriological phase; and a healing phase. It is considered a potential source of life-threatening infection and often is a dose-limiting factor in anticancer therapy. Some interventions have been shown to be potentially effective to prevent and treat oral mucositis. Further intensive research through well-structured clinical trials to obtain the best scientific evidence over the standard therapy of oral mucositis is necessary to attain ideal parameters for radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Phototherapy is noninvasive, painless and has no known side effect. However, for its incorporation into clinical practice, more well-designed studies are necessary to define optimal parameters for its application. The viability of fibroblasts cultured under nutritional stress irradiated with either a red laser, an infrared laser, or a red light-emitting diode (LED) was analyzed. Irradiation parameters were: red laser (660 nm, 40 mW, 1 W/cm²), infrared laser (780 nm, 40 mW, 1 W/cm²), and red LED (637 ± 15 nm, 40 mW, 1 W/cm²). All applications were punctual and performed with a spot with 0.4 mm² of diameter for 4 or 8 s. The Kruskal–Wallis test and analysis of variance of the general linear model (p ≤ 0.05) were used for statistical analysis. After 72 h, phototherapy with low-intensity laser and LED showed no toxicity at the cellular level. It even stimulated methylthiazol tetrazolium assay (MTT) conversion and neutral red uptake of fibroblasts cultured under nutritional stress, especially in the group irradiated with infrared laser (p = 0.004 for MTT conversion and p < 0.001 for neutral red uptake). Considering the parameters and protocol of phototherapy used, it can be concluded that phototherapy stimulated the viability of fibroblasts cultured under nutritional deficit resembling those found in traumatized tissue in which cell viability is reduced.

The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of impacted teeth in a subpopulation of Brazilian patients based on the retrospective analysis of panoramic radiographs obtained at an oral radiology clinic. Out of 1,977 panoramic radiographs, 1,352 fulfilled inclusion criteria, and 22,984 teeth were assessed. Data were statistically analyzed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov's and Levene's tests; significance was set at 5%. The number of impacted teeth was assessed using analysis of variance and Tukey's post-hoc test. Our results showed significant differences for tooth type and patient age when analyzed separately (p < 0.05); gender did not show significant results (p > 0.05). Correlations between age and gender showed significant differences (p < 0.05), as did the correlations between age, gender and tooth type (p < 0.05). Mandibular molars were the teeth most frequently affected (p < 0.05), followed by maxillary molars (p < 0.05). Other tooth types did not present significant differences among themselves (p > 0.05). Patients aged 22 years or younger were the most frequent ones (p < 0.05). No significant differences were observed between age groups 37 and 51 years and 52+ (p > 0.05). According to the methodology here employed, gender did not affect tooth impaction, whereas age (22-36 years) and tooth type (mandibular third molars) strongly influenced results. How to cite this article: Pedro FLM, Bandéca MC, Volpato LER, Marques ATC, Borba AM, de Musis CR, Borges AH. Prevalence of Impacted Teeth in a Brazilian Subpopulation. J Contemp Dent Pract 2014;15(2):209-213.

Head and neck cancer treatment has provided better cure and survival rates but the patient's quality of life is still an issue. To verify the correlation between the three most used instruments for evaluating the quality of life of head and neck cancer patients. This cross-sectional study evaluated patients treated for head and neck cancer at the Mato Grosso Cancer Hospital, Cuiabá, MT, Brazil. The variables age, gender, cohabitation status, education, religion, smoking, ethnicity, tumor location and histological type and treatment modality were collected. The patients quality of life was assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Quality of Life Measurement System (FACT-H&N), University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire (UW-QOL), and EORTC QLQ-C30/EORTC QLQ-H&N35 of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer. The study population consisted of 33 individuals with a mean age of 63.42±11.25 years; 69.70% were males; 54.55% had no partner; 45.45% had only elementary education; 87.9% followed a religion; 84.38% were smokers and 87.50% alcoholics. Squamous cell carcinoma responded for 78.79% of the cases and palate/oropharynx and mouth floor (21.21% each) were the most affected sites. All patients underwent radiotherapy, 90.91% chemotherapy and 63.64% surgery. On the analysis of quality of life, shoulder (UW-QOL), social performance (EORTC QLQ-C30/QLQ-H&N35) and overall well-being (FACT-H&N) had the highest scores while saliva (UW-QOL), nausea and vomiting (EORTC QLQ-C30/QLQ-H&N35) and emotional well-being (FACT-H&N) had the lowest scores. A positive correlation was found between the questionnaires for the patient's overall quality of life and the domains Pain, Appearan-ce, Activity, Deglutition, Chewing, Speech, Taste, Saliva, Mood and Anxiety. Given the correlation between the questionnaires, the selection of the instrument for future research involving head and neck cancer patients' quality of life should consider the specific aspects to be evaluated.

O aumento da intensidade da quimioterapia e radioterapia no tratamento do câncer tem elevado a incidência de efeitos colaterais, em especial da mucosite bucal. OBJETIVO E MÉTODO: Através de revisão bibliográfica realizou-se atualizar informações quanto à definição, características clínicas, incidência, etiologia, patofisiologia, morbidade associada, prevenção e tratamento dessa manifestação clínica. RESULTADOS: Estudos atuais definem a mucosite bucal como uma inflamação e ulceração dolorosa bastante freqüente na mucosa bucal apresentando formação de pseudomembrana. Sua incidência e severidade são influenciadas por variáveis associadas ao paciente e ao tratamento a que ele é submetido. A mucosite é conseqüência de dois mecanismos maiores: toxicidade direta da terapêutica utilizada sobre a mucosa e mielossupressão gerada pelo tratamento. Sua patofisiologia é composta por quatro fases interdependentes: fase inflamatória/vascular, fase epitelial, fase ulcerativa/bacteriológica e fase de reparação. É considerada fonte potencial de infecções com risco de morte, sendo a principal causa de interrupção de tratamentos antineoplásicos. Algumas intervenções mostraram-se potencialmente efetivas para sua prevenção e tratamento. Entretanto, faz-se necessária a realização de novos estudos clínicos mais bem conduzidos para obtenção de melhor evidência científica acerca do agente terapêutico de escolha para o controle da mucosite bucal, permitindo a realização da quimioterapia e radioterapia do câncer em parâmetros ideais.