Evaluation of the Relationship Between Oral Infections and Oral Care Habits of Immunosuppressive Patients

Objective: Oral infections in immunosuppressive patients cause disruptions in the treatment protocols of the patients. Effective oral care is important in preventing oral infections. In this study, aimed to investigate the relationship between oral care habits and oral infection in immunosuppressive patients. Material and Method: Patients who were followed up at the Hematology and oncology clinic and who received chemotherapy in theday-to-day chemotherapy unit were included in the study. Patients with severe neutropenic neutrophil count<500, antibiotic use due to systemic infection, remission and no chemotherapeutic drugs were excluded. In order to collect information about oral care habits, a structured questionnaire was applied as a question and answer. Patients were retrospectively screened through files of information related to oral infection that could be developed during chemotherapy treatments. Findings and Results: Of the 185 patients studied, 75.6% (n: 140) were followed in the oncology clinic and 24.4% (n: 45) in the hematology clinic. Oral infection was detected in 25.4% (N:47) of the patients. Forty-seven patients were accompanied by oral infection in the mucositis. Candida infection in 32 patients diagnosed with direct microscopic examination, In 15, there was a clinically diagnosed and serologically confirmed herpes virus infection. It was found that patients with oral infection did not take effective oral care. There was a significant difference between the patients with oral infections and the group without oral infection in terms of denta lhygiene, prosthesis cleaning and tooth paste selection, the frequency of tooth brushes replacement and daily oral care. Conclusion: According to the responses given to survey questions, it was understood that patients did not perform effective oral care. The effectiveness of oral care in the group with oral infection was found to be decreased significantly in the group without oral infection. Oral infections can be reduced with effective oral care. For this reason, clinicians ' patients should be more stimulating about oral care and oral care habits should be questioned periodically in follow-up