Local mucous membrane lesions caused by irradiation of the oropharynx can be prevented by a dental shield

In patients with metallic dental fillings radiation therapy to the oral cavity can cause mucous membrane lesions, which are more severe than expected. They appear as circumscribed erosions, opposite to metallic fillings and are caused by an increase in radiation dose through secondary radiation due to the higher density and atomic number of the filling material. This dose increase can be directly measured with 0.1 mm thin sheets of graphite-loaded TLD's (LiF, Vinten). For Co-60 gamma rays a commercial amalgam filling caused a dose increase by a factor of 1.7. The half value layer for this additional radiation was measured to be approximately 0.4 mm tissue. In order to avoid painful mucous membrane ulcerations which are even more a problem if hyperfractionated treatment schedules are used, we constructed individual dental shields for each patient. As shielding material we used a dental impression material (Optosil P+, Bayer). This method was tested in 35 patients, in all of them circumscribed mucous membrane ulcerations could be avoided. The method proved to be fast and simple and was very well tolerated by all patients. (orig.)