ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the role of individual dental stent on taste protection in the patients with primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods Firstly,dosimetric evaluation of the tongue under the circumstance of 10 pairs of patient wearing dental stent or not was done.Secondly,a total of 61 patients were randomized into two arms:29 were in the trial arm and 32 in the control arm.The patients wore dental stent during radiotherapy in trial group,but not in control group.The endpoint was taste dysfunction before radiotherapy,every week during radiotherapy till the completion of radiotherapy,and followed up six months after radiotherapy.Results The mean dose of tip of tongue,body of tongue,base of tongue for patient with dental stent or not were (394.43±24.01) cGy,(986.35±77.15) cGy,(4 401.16±179.01) cGy and (677.03± 110.05) cGy,(2 418.19±414.18) cGy,(4 878.67±387.45) cGy (P value were 0.031,0.007 and 0.284,respectively) separately.By the completion of the radiotherapy,there were 9 (31.03 ％) patients suffering from a taste dysfunction in the trial group and 25 (78.13 ％) in the control group (P ＜ 0.001).Conclusions Individual dental stent has a potential tendency to relieve the taste impairment by reducing the irradiation dose of tongue.