Abstract
Introduction: Palliative care (PC) in dentistry consists of providing dental care to patients who are in the terminal phase of an illness, mainly cancer. This care aims to reduce the pain and suffering of these patients. Objective: To list the main clinical considerations of hospital palliative dentistry in critically ill patients or those with cancer. Methods: The systematic review rules of the PRISMA Platform were followed. The search was conducted from October to December 2025 across the Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, PubMed, ScienceDirect, SciELO, and Google Scholar databases. The quality of the studies was assessed using the GRADE instrument, and the risk of bias was evaluated according to the Cochrane instrument. Results and Conclusion: According to the GRADE instrument, most studies presented homogeneity in their results, with X2=82.3%>50%. A total of 90 articles were found and submitted for eligibility analysis, with 16 final studies selected to compose the results of this systematic review. Considering the Cochrane tool for risk of bias, the overall assessment resulted in 11 studies with a high risk of bias and 20 studies that did not meet GRADE and AMSTAR-2 standards. It was concluded that the understanding of palliative dental care has changed and redefined oncological treatment by dentists. Currently, palliative dental care is defined as the comprehensive care of a patient experiencing intense health-related suffering due to a serious, life-threatening illness. The goal of palliative dental care is to improve the quality of life of patients, their families, and their caregivers. Based on the literature reviewed, it can be concluded that the most common oral conditions among palliative patients are cancer, xerostomia, candidiasis, mucositis, dysphagia, and dysgeusia. These conditions reduce the patient's quality of life, causing pain and discomfort. Furthermore, xerostomia has proven to be an important factor in the development of other conditions. It was possible to conclude that the presence of a dental surgeon on the palliative care team is indispensable for improving the patient's quality of life.