As the survival rate of childhood cancer increases, various methods are being sought to improve the quality of life after treatment.
Dental health is one factor that greatly affects the quality of life, and pediatric cancer patients who have undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, which treats cancer by transplanting healthy hematopoietic stem cells, develop abnormal dental development.
A research team at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, led by Professors Kim Yoon-ji of the Department of Orthodontics and Chung Nack-Gyun of the Department of Pediatrics, has found that the range of abnormal dental development is wider if chemotherapy is started at a younger age.
The team concluded so after analyzing 153 patients aged 10 years or younger who visited the Department of Pediatrics at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and had their dental panoramic X-rays taken after stem cell transplantation.
The team divided them into four groups -- less than 2.5 years old, 2.6-5.0 years old, 5.1-7.5 years old, and 7.5-10 years old -- and investigated tooth loss, dwarf teeth, and root dysplasia in each group.
As a result of the study, the team confirmed that patients who received chemotherapy at a younger age when tooth development was occurring had more extensive dental dysplasia.
"We were able to conduct the study as Seoul St. Mary's Hospital has many hematopoietic stem cell transplantation cases and has rich experience in treating dental patients who have undergone chemotherapy," Professor Kim said.
Kim stressed dental health is important for recovery as it allows the patients to eat well and take nutrients evenly.
"To improve the quality of life after chemotherapy, regular dental checkups are essential before and after chemotherapy," she said.
Professor Chung also said, "As a result of analyzing the accumulated data over a long period, this study proved the correlation with abnormal tooth development, suggesting that in the case of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at a young age in the future, efforts are needed to minimize the effect on tooth development before and after transplantation treatment."
The results of the research were published in PLOS ONE.