SOMA-LENT Scoring of Dental Complications Following Cancer Therapy

 

Subjective measures:

(1) pain

 

Objective measures:

(1) caries

 

Management measures:

(1) management of pain

(2) management of caries

 

Analytic studies:

(1) dental X-rays: assessment of necrosis progression with periapical, bite wing, panographc X-rays

(2) probe for softness: assessment of teeth for decalcification and caries

(3) pulp test: assessment for pulp integrity with heat, cold and electric current

(4) percussion: assessment of tenderness and pain

(5) mobility: assessment of alveolar bone for loss and infection

 

If no toxicity is present, then the 0 points are assigned.

If a toxicity is present, then the grade indicates the number of points to assign.

	Grade 1	Grade 2	Grade 3	Grade 4
pain	occasional and minimal	intermittent and tolerable	persistent and intense	refractory and excruciating
caries	DMF < 25%	SMF 25-50%	DMF > 50%	fracture
management of pain	occasional non-narcotic	regular non-narcotic	regular narcotic	extraction
management of caries	fluoride treatments	restoration	selected extraction	total extraction

 

where:

• DMF = number of decayed, missing and filled teeth after therapy as compared to pre-therapy state

• I assume that "fracture" indicates bone fracture, but this seems out of place with caries.

 

total score =

= SUM(points for all 4 items)

 

LENT score =

= (total score) / 4

 

Interpretation:

• maximum total score: 16

• minimum LENT score: 0

• maximum LENT score: 4.0