Awareness of Radiation Oncologists Regarding Oral Evaluation of Patients before Radiotherapy: Survey Study

Abstract

Radiotherapy is one of the most preferred methods in head and neck cancers. Many oral complications develop in patients during and after radiation from the head and neck region. While these complications affect the comfort of life in patients, they also cause many problems in the treatment process for physicians. The aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge, opinions and attitudes of physicians who perform radiotherapy about dentistry and multidisciplinary approach before or during radiotherapy. A total of 120 physicians who applied radiotherapy participated in the study. The questionnaire consists of 14 questions which were sent online to practitioners working in many centres. The results were entered into the statistics data package system. 78.6% of the physicians answered yes to the question of simultaneous dentistry and multidisciplinary approach during radiotherapy. While 82.1% answered yes as the level of knowledge in terms of complications, 79.5% answered yes to the question of supportive treatments, and 29.9% answered yes to the question of applying protective appliances. While the level of knowledge of the physicians participating in this study was sufficient in terms of complications, a lower rate was found in terms of dental consultation and dentistry, as well as multidisciplinary approach and protective appliances.