While it is almost general knowledge how aggressive cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy causes adverse physiological side effects such as extended episodes of nausea and hair loss, not too many people know how cancer treatments carry significant consequences to oral health.
Patients who undergo cancer treatment, because it is no less than crucial in preserving and maintaining good health, have no choice but to subject their teeth, gums, salivary glands, and other oral health tissues to damaging and often uncomfortable side effects.
Oral Health Side Effects
Oral health side effects of cancer treatment come in all forms and degrees of severity. The complications largely depend on the individual cancer treatment that the patient undergoes. For instance, there are cancer treatments that are often regarded as stomatoxic mainly because of their toxic effects on the oral health tissues.
What follows is a list of the most common oral health complications that go with undergoing cancer treatments
- Oral mucositis or the inflammation ulceration of the mucous membrane
- Viral, bacterial, and fungal infection
- Dry mouth, otherwise referred to as xerostomia, that results from salivary gland dysfunction
- Basic oral function disabilities
- Taste alterations
- Nutritional compromise
- Abnormal dental development
- Radiation carries
Dentist In Sunshine Coast
Before, during, and after the course of cancer treatment, regular dental maintenance becomes all the more important in keeping the teeth and gums intact and ultimately healthy.
By complementing cancer treatment with a comprehensive dental maintenance program, cancer patients are able to actively reduce the risk and severity of oral health complications, prevent oral infections, and eliminate oral pain, among many others.
Offering all the best that modern dentistry has to offer, Smiles Nambour houses a team of dental experts who provide the local Sunshine Coast community and its surrounding regions with a comprehensive list of general, restorative, and cosmetic dental treatments that attend to specific patient needs.
Same Day Appointment Available, Request it Now! Call us at (07) 5240 9410. Or simply book an appointment online.
