Dental Health and Quality of Life in 117 Patients from Kosovo, Aged 6-80 Years, Evaluated Using the Dental Impact on Daily Living (DIDL) Questionnaire and the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) Questionnaire.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dental health on quality of life (QoL) in 117 patients from Kosova, aged 6-80 years, using the Dental Impact on Daily Living (DL) questionnaire and the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) questionnaire. MATERIAL AND METHODS We recruited 117 patients, approximately half male and half female, aged 6-80 years. The subjects came for dental appointments and filled out 2 questionnaires: DIDL addressing questions on appearance, comfort, pain, performance and eating restriction, and OHRQoL assessing dental-specific questions for evaluation of satisfaction with oral health, and evaluation of importance they attribute to oral health. Collected data included age, gender, income, education level, and frequency of brushing teeth per day. RESULTS The participants were relatively satisfied with their DIDL health (score >0) and also had positive views on OHRQoL (score >0). No participants evaluated the appearance, comfort, eating restrictions, or pain as satisfactory. Comparisons of age, gender, education, income level, and frequency of brushing teeth showed that female participants evaluated their DIDL higher than male participants (P=0.043). Age was correlated with the frequency of teeth brushing per day (rho=-0.450; P<0.001). Gender, age, education level, income level, and frequency of teeth brushing did not influence QoL. CONCLUSIONS This small study from Kosovo showed reasonable satisfaction with oral health and its associated QoL. While participants reported good effects of oral health on their QoL, they were least satisfied with comfort and most satisfied with their performance.

Detection of Occult Metastases in Patients with T1 and T2 Stage Lower Lip Squamous Cell Carcinomas after Positive Lymphoscintigraphy.

The aim of this study was to detect lower lip squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) that had metastasized to the lymph nodes and to evaluate if neck dissection was necessary for patients with T1 or T2-stage lip cancer after a sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). The study was conducted as a prospective clinical study to detect occult neck metastases in patients with T1 or T2 stage SCC of the lower lip. Thirty-one patients were eligible and underwent echo-ultrasound, computer tomography, magnetic resonance and lymphoscintigraphy (LSG) as diagnostic procedures. LSG was performed on the same day as the surgical procedure, after intradermal injection of 37 Mbq Tc99m-Sn-colloid/mL at four peritumoral sites. In patients with positive LSG results, the sentinel lymph nodes were extracted surgically. The risk factors for cancer development were sun exposure and smoking. The highest accuracy for detecting lymph node enlargements was achieved with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI; 80.7%). LSG showed excellent sensitivity (100%) and negative predictive value (NPV; 100%). Overall, occult metastases were diagnosed with an SLNB in eight (25.8%) patients. According to the results, with great caution, we suggest that an SLNB is reasonable to initiate only for patients with positive sentinel nodes by positive LSG, to be used as a lower morbidity approach for selected patients with T1 and T2 stage cancers.

Analysis of THREE-year prevalence of oral cavity, neck and head tumors - a retrospective single-centre study.

The purpose of the study was to retrospectively analyze the prevalence of oral cavity, neck and head tumors recorded at our department over a period of 3 years. Retrospective analysis included archival data on cancer patients treated at our department during the 2015-2017 period. A total of 1005 patients with proven carcinomas were selected for final analysis. Cancers were detected by ultrasound, x-ray, biopsy and clinical diagnosis. The mean age of patients was 58.4±19.3 years. The majority of cases (n=264; 26.3%) were detected in the 7th decade of life. The most common cancers were basal cell carcinoma in 374 (37.2%) and squamous cell carcinoma in 228 (22.7%) cases. The male-to-female ratio was 1.7:1. There was no statistically significant age difference between genders. Recurrence of tumor occurred in 31 patients. The most common risk factor in both groups was sun exposure. The most common sites were lower lip, cheek and frontal region in men, and cheek region and nose in women (p<0.001). Men were found to be more susceptible to cancer development. This study showed differences between age groups, i.e. elderly patients had a much higher probability of developing cancer as compared to younger patients.