2019 Volume 45 Issue 3 Pages 286-293
It is recognized that professional oral care performed by dental health providers can help to prevent post-surgical complications in cancer patients, as well as perioperative bacterial infections in cardiovascular surgery or organ transplantation. Accordingly, medical expenses for oral management have been covered by the Japanese health insurance system under ‘Perioperative Oral Functional Management’ since April 2012. Aichi Cancer Center Hospital undertook a model project of medical-dental collaboration to develop a community medical cooperation system of oral functional management（OFM）in cancer patients from 2011 to 2013. This project also carried out practical training programs on OFM for dental clinics and pharmacies in Aichi prefecture. Dental practitioners and pharmacists who completed this training were certified as cooperative clinicians at our hospital. As part of the training programs, a clinical study was conducted to examine the effects of OFM performed by regional collaborators for 41 prehospital patients of head and neck or upper gastrointestinal cancers. In 2017, an additional clinical study was performed by a questionnaire survey for 199 cooperative dentists of our hospital. These studies revealed the problems of patient referral documents in community medical cooperation and the necessity of continuous practical training in OFM of cancer patients.
