title: Dental status and quality of life in long-term head and neck cancer survivors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze how the dental status of long-term head and neck cancer survivors affects their subjective quality of life.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational case series.
  
  
  METHODS
  A convenience sample of 5-year head and neck cancer survivors underwent the following battery of tests: 1) targeted head and neck examination, 2) updated medical history, 3) dental evaluation, 4) standardized quality of life questionnaires.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-six survivors were included in the study. The following associations were identified: 1) those who became edentulous secondary to cancer treatment and those without occlusion at time of the study demonstrated worse Pain, Activity, Recreation/Entertainment, Chewing, Swallowing, Speech, Eating in Public, Normalcy of Diet, Physical Well-Being, Social/Family Well-Being, Functional Well-Being, and Additional Concerns scores; 2) higher Decayed/Missing/Filled scores were associated with worse Pain, Disfigurement, Activity, Recreation/Entertainment, Employment, Chewing, Swallowing, Speech, Eating in Public, Understandability of Speech, Normalcy of Diet, Physical Well-Being, Additional Concerns scores, and weight loss; 3) decreased oral opening measurements were associated with worse Chewing, Swallowing, Eating in Public, Normalcy of Diet, Additional Concerns scores, and weight loss; 4) edentulous survivors who did not use dentures had worse Pain, Activity, Recreation/Entertainment, Understandability of Speech, and Eating in Public scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although previous studies have shown that many of the effects of cancer treatment disappear between 1 and 3 years, this study shows that the dental status has a persistent impact on subjective quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences, The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226-3522, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Duke
authors.forename: Bruce H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: A Thomas
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Indresano
authors.forename: Derek J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Eaton
authors.forename: Anne M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Marbella
authors.forename: Katherine B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Layde
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004245:DMF Index; D003679:Deglutition / Q000502:physiology; D003778:Dentures; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008409:Mastication / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009066:Mouth, Edentulous / Q000523:psychology; D009909:Oral Health; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology; D013065:Speech Intelligibility / Q000502:physiology; D017741:Survivors; D014313:Trismus / Q000523:psychology