Cancer treatment has lots of side effects on an individuals body. One of the most common problems that cancer patients face is oral health issues. There are many complications related to the oral health one might have to face while his treatment for cancer is going on. These complications will vary in different sessions. Their severity will also distinguish accordingly. Some of the oral complications one gets in their cancer treatment are stated below.
Complications during Chemotherapy as well as Radiotherapy
While cancer treatment you might face oral inflammation along with having ulcers in the membranes. This is immensely painful and might lead to infection in your oral system.
The radiations given during chemotherapy might lead to infection in the mouth. This infection can be viral in nature or fungal. At times bacterial infections might also be faced by the patient. This infection generally occurs due to damage occurred to the mucosa or xerostomia.
Cancer treatment might also lead to dryness of the mouth. This can be due to thickening of the salivary flow. At times this flow will reduce or vanish. This complication is called as Xerostomia gland dysfunction. Along with this, you will be facing lot of problem while speaking or chewing and also swallowing.
Cancer treatment is just not limited to chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Along with this you will be provided with medications which might further result into oral complications.
One might also have to go through functional disabilities. Like inability to eat or taste food, problem while speaking, Trismus and mucositis.
You might also find alterations while your treatment is going on. You might find the food to be tasteless or bitter.
As you are not able to eat in a proper manner you will be facing lack of nutrition in your body. This might be because of lots of other reasons also viz. dryness of mouth or mucositis dysphagia, etc.
Cancer treatment might also lead to abnormal development of your teeth and gums. This is especially very common in the cancer kids who start their chemotherapy before the age of 9 years.
The radiation used in the chemotherapy might decay your teeth permanently. However you will get to see the decaying of the teeth after a time of 3 months from the time therapy started.
The platelets might also reduce drastically due to the bleeding and clotting faced by an individual. It is very common in people suffering from bone marrow.
These are few major dental problems an individual might have to face when they are undergoing cancer treatment. Ensure that you are in constant touch with your dentist so that proper treatments are taken for your dental problem. Along with this you will have to ensure that the dentist and your oncologist are in constant touch with each other so that none of their treatments are affected because of the medications.
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