Major Cancer treatments which include Chemotherapy and Radiation, leave severe side effects on body's overall health. Although, some of the common side effects are known to everyone but the harms it causes to oral health are mostly overlooked and are anonymous to most of the patients.
Our oral health has a deeper and direct relation with our body's overall health; therefore, a cancer patient should be well aware of the oral problems he may face after undergoing chemotherapy and radiations. Your oral health includes the health of your teeth, gums, mucosa and salivary glands, because each has its own role to play.
Here are the details of some of the side effects that cancer treatments may cause to your oral health. Knowing this, a patient can well prepare on how to take proper oral care, so that he could minimize the after effects as much as he can.
Side Effects to Oral Health
Mostly, after or during a cancer treatment, a patient may suffer through the following oral problems;
• Dry Mouth
• Mouth Sores
• Tooth Decay
• Problems in biting, chewing and swallowing food
• Inflammation and pain in mucosa and tongue
• Problems while speaking
Let's have a detail of the facts about the kinds of problems which are caused by Chemotherapy.
Side Effects of Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is prescribed to a cancer patient while keeping the severity and stage of the disease. Different researches have proved that more than two-third of the patients, who take a high dose chemotherapy and one-third of patients receiving a normal dose, suffer from dental and oral side effects.
Most of the time patients experience severe types of mouth sores, which not only cause pain but also inhibit patients from taking solid or citric foods. The continuous experience to chemotherapy for a longer time period even causes severe pain in mouth and gums. In some of the patients, it peels tongue causing burning and infection; as a result, the taste buds get affected. Thus, due to tastelessness or changed taste, most of the patients take foods in limited quantity that are usually below their body's overall needs.
For some patients, the side effects recover on their own while others need to consult a dental professional, who will first conduct their oral examination and will prescribe a treatment to cope up with dental, gums and other oral issues, caused by chemotherapy. Mostly, dentist in Diamond Bar recommends mouth rinse that makes the recovery faster.
Harms of Radiations to Your Oral Health
Radiations to head and neck cause severe dental and oral problems that include dry mouth, fast tooth decay, tastelessness, mouth and gums sores and swelling in jaws. The severity and duration of these problems vary. To be on safer side, you first need to consult an oncologic dentist, who will provide you a wise advice on how to cope up with your oral problems after undergoing radiations.
Take Dental Advice for Quicker Recovery
Whatever problems you face after getting cancer treatment, you need to stay in touch with your oncologic dental expert because he will provide all the medications that could make the recovery quicker.
Usually, a Diamond Bar dentist recommends taking salt and soda containing mouth rinse that helps treating mouth sores and gum tenderness. Moreover, he may also recommend you medicines that reduce pain.
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