INCIDENCE OF DENTAL-CARIES IN CHILDREN WITH ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA IS RELATED TO THE THERAPY USED

sponse rate was 60 percent (N = 742). Data were analyzed using frequencies and Chi-Square tests (P-value < 0.05). Only 9.6 percent of the sample had sealants on their permanent molars. Variables that were found associated with children more likely to have sealants included: gender (female children more likely than males); children with a recent dental exam; children having a regular dentist; parents having heard about seal-lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were significantly higher than in healthy age-and-sex-matched controls after cessation of therapy). The children with CNS irradiation had higher DMFT (7.13) than children with only chemotherapy (3.4) and the controls (1.8). Lifelong caries incidence showed that children with ALL had 2.7 new caries lesions per year during the therapy compared to the 1.1 (p < 0.05) new lesions in controls. More detailed analysis of permanent anterior teeth at the age of twelve years showed that all patient groups had more filled anterior teeth than controls (p < 0.001); and children with bone marrow transplantation had significantly more fillings than the other two groups.