AN AUDIT OF ORAL AND DENTAL-HEALTH REGIMENS PRACTICED IN THE MANAGEMENT OF OROPHARYNGEAL CANCER

The purpose of the present study was to find out what preventive care was offered to patients after radiotherapy, particularly if they were dentate. As the mean age of the population increases and the number of people who retain at least some of their teeth into old age also rise s, it is likely that more and more people with a diagnosis of oral can cer mill be dentate, The incidence of oropharyngeal cancer has also st arted to increase recently and is affecting more young and dentate peo ple.(1) It is of paramount Importance to provide comprehensive managem ent for these patients, not only to remove the disease and reconstruct the defect, but also to provide the patient with the opportunity of e xperiencing a good quality of life by having a comfortable mouth after treatment. A questionnaire was sent to all senior fellows of the Brit ish Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (BAOMS) and the res ults analyzed. The results of this survey show that improvements could be made if some simple preventive measures were instigated in the ear ly stages of treatment.