The multidrug nature of anticancer treatment and different treatment protocols used in the studies are likely to be a major limitation in establishing real risk factors determining the occurrence of dental abnormalities. The authors aimed to establish a relationship between the duration and the dose of
chemotherapy and the number of tooth adverse effects in the group receiving the same treatment. Of the 40 anticancer
therapy recipients who attended the outpatient dental clinic, 7
leukemia survivors receiving the treatment according to the ALL IC-BFM 2002 protocol were selected. The study group consisted of four females and three males aged 92 to 207 months at the time of dental examination and 29 to 91 months at
leukemia diagnosis. As a result of the clinical and radiological examination, dental abnormalities such as agenesis, tooth size reduction, root abnormalities, and taurodontia were identified, and the medical records of all survivors were reviewed in terms of drugs administered, their doses, and treatment schedules. No correlation was observed between the
treatment duration of an intensive
therapy, the entire
therapy, and the number of
tooth abnormalities. No relationship was also found between the number of dental abnormalities and the cumulative dose of
vincristine, L-
asparaginase,
methotrexate,
cyclophosphamide,
cytarabine, and
6-mercaptopurine. The age at the onset of
antineoplastic therapy is likely to be the strongest risk factor for toxic injury during tooth development.