Yoneda, S., Imai, S., Hanada, N., Yamazaki, T., Senpuku, H., Ota, Y., et al. (2007). Effects of oral care on development of oral mucositis and microorganisms in patients with esophageal cancer. Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases, 60(1), 23–28.

All patients received initial tooth brushing with a dental brush by a dentist and scaling to teeth with an ultrasonic scaler.

Special care group:
Dentist performed oral care with irrigation and suctioning for 15 minutes three days per week for two to four weeks between 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm after dinner. 20 ml of 0.5% povidone-iodine was ejected through the e-brush, then suctioned. This was done in the mouth, sides of the teeth, tongue, and mucosal surfaces. Patients rinsed with 0.5% povidone-iodine to clean the oral cavity. A combination of physical and chemical cleaning was used.
 

Patients with newly diagnosed esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) treated with chemoradiotherapy

The study was comprised of 40 patients (20 in the regular oral care group and 20 in the e-brush group).

The mean patient age was 66.2 years (SD = +/– 7.9 years) and 58.0 years (SD = +/– 6.3 years), respectively.
 

October 2003–January 2005

RCT

Oral mucositis was diagnosed by a dentist, assessed every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Japan clinical oncology group criteria-based on NCI-CTC

Bacterial analysis
 

Incidence of oral mucositis was significantly lower in the special care group (4 of 20 [20%] versus 11 of 20 [55%] [p = 0.048]).

Induced stable microflora consisting of oral streptococci
 

Small study; labor intensive intervention; unclear about costs