The dentist plays an essential role in the overall care of the head and neck cancer patient.

He/she may be the first professional to examine a patient with symptoms within the oral and peri-oral tissues and may find a tumor needing evaluation by the head and neck surgeon.

The dentist also may play an essential role as member of the rehabilitation team. Patients who have resections of upper or lower jaws may need special prostheses created to allow for acceptable speech and swallowing.

The oncologic dentist is called upon to prepare patients for radiation therapy to the jaws and peri-oral tissues. Because radiation can lead to dry mouth, dental caries and damage to the blood supply of the jaw bones, optimizing a patient's oral health before radiation treatment is very important. If the patient ends up needing significant oral surgery for infected teeth after radiation treatment, complications may follow in the form of "osteo-radionecrosis" (death of bone secondary to poor blood supply).

Note: The image shown above is a panoramic dental xray that shows the dentist upper and lower jaws and all the teeth in one view.