Palliative care in dentistry: Literature review

Abstract

Palliative care seeks to provide quality of life through an interdisciplinary team capable of providing effective and comprehensive assistance to the patient in their final moments, and their family. In this sense, this work aims to address palliative care in dentistry. Several conditions act as a supporting or main factor in the development of oral problems in palliative patients. Among the main causes are nutritional deficiency, difficulty in oral hygiene, pharmacological and collateral therapies and dehydration, with xerostomia being the most frequent problem, followed by oral candidiasis, dysphagia, mucositis, orofacial pain, changes in taste and ulcers. However, the initiation of dental intervention is difficult, as many patients believe that oral manifestations are typical and inherent to diseases or because they lose the ability to communicate about their discomforts. Thus, the importance of including the dentist in the care of the palliative patient is verified to alleviate pain and the occurrence of complications, as well as to guarantee care for this individual.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.56238/sevened2024.010-070