Background:
Oral mucositis is a common side effect of cancer therapy (chemotherapy and radiotherapy). Symptoms include dryness, halitosis, pain, inflammation and oral mucosa ulceration. The aim of this literature review was to appraise the current evidence on the management of cancer therapy-related oral mucositis.
Methods:
The articles were searched in the following databases: PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science. The exclusion criteria were as follows:
• Articles in languages other than English.
• Articles before 2007.
• Factors other than cancer therapy.
• Certain novelty treatments without ethics approval.
• Articles focusing only on prevention.
Results:
Benzydamine hydrochloride has been shown to be effective (5-8). Chlorhexidine mouthwash was found to not be effective (3, 9). MuGuard™ was more effective than the control in reducing pain from oral mucositis (25). There was limited evidence on the usage of anaesthetics, zinc, improvements in oral hygiene (including restorative factors) and photobiomodulation in improving oral mucositis (3, 25, 47). Honey showed minor improvements in oral mucositis but the results were not statistically significant (54).
Conclusion:
The most successful treatments were mouthwashes (benzydamine hydrochloride), gels (MuGard™), anaesthetics , Zinc, improvements in oral hygiene (including restorative factors) and photobiomodulation. More research is needed to obtain more statistically significant results.