Abstract
Introduction: Dentistry is of paramount importance in preventive actions as well as in the elimination of inflammatory, infectious, and painful symptomatological processes that may contribute to the loss of hospitalized patients. Nutrition directly impacts oral health, as well as the management of surgical patients. Cancer patients receiving specialized palliative care present a wide variety of oral symptoms that affect oral functions, psychosocial well-being, and quality of life. Objective: This study aimed to emphasize hospital dentistry and the care provided by dental surgeons at the nutritional and palliative levels. Methods: The PRISMA Guidelines were followed. The search was conducted from February to April 2026 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 homogeneous results, with X2=82.5% > 50%. A total of 113 articles were found and submitted for eligibility analysis, with 21 final studies selected to compose the results of this systematic review. Considering the Cochrane tool for risk of bias, the overall assessment resulted in 31 studies with a high risk of bias and 22 studies that did not meet GRADE and AMSTAR-2 standards. The elaboration of the work made it possible to achieve the initially proposed objectives: highlighting the importance of the dentist's role in the hospital environment, as well as nutritional care and probiotics. It also made it possible to discuss dentistry in general, address dental care in the hospital environment, and highlight the difficulties faced in its integration into hospitals. It is necessary to empower and qualify all the hospital staff and the dentists so that oral health is offered to the patients, as well as to know the impact caused by the oral problems on the systemic health of the patients, and to implement specific protocols on the subject in all aspects. Cancer patients receiving specialist palliative care present with a wide range of oral symptoms that affect oral functions, psychosocial well-being, and quality of life.