Cancer and its treatment can cause oral health and dental problems that require specialized expertise and timely care before, during and after cancer treatment. We can help.
Why dental care is important for cancer patients
You will need a referral from your doctor or the Roswell Park Treatment Center.
Hospital, 3rd floor
Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm
Good oral health is important to prevent or minimize complications that could compromise your ability to tolerate cancer treatment, meet nutritional requirements, or maintain quality of life.
Patients should see a dentist before starting cancer treatment – ideally two weeks before starting radiation or chemotherapy treatments – in order to maintain good oral hygiene and treat any dental infections. Untreated infections could cause delays in cancer treatment. If you are already in treatment, see us as soon as possible.
Some types of cancer – such as mouth, jaw and other head and neck cancers – directly affect the mouth and teeth. Other cancers include treatments – such as chemotherapy, radiation to the head and neck areas, or a blood and marrow transplant – that increase the risk of oral complications such as:
- Mouth sores, infections
- Cavities (caused by reduced saliva)
- Tooth loss
- Tooth sensitivity due to loss of minerals from the teeth
- Xerostomia (dry mouth) caused by damage to your salivary glands
Dental services
Roswell Park dentists are highly trained in addressing the complex and unique dental and oral health needs of cancer patients and survivors. Our team includes general dentists and implant and temporomandibular joint specialists along with other dental staff who work closely with surgeons, radiation oncologists and speech and language pathologists for timely, coordinated care for cancer patients.
We provide a full comprehensive menu of general dental services including cleanings and restorations, root canals, tooth extractions and we provide dentures and partial dentures. Our team will ensure that your appointments take place at suitable times in your treatment schedule in order to provide:
- Complete oral health assessment (required before some treatments)
- Dental management for patients undergoing blood or bone marrow transplantation
- Prevention and treatment of oral side effects from chemotherapy and radiotherapy
- Treatment of existing dental diseasessuch as infections or problem teeth
- Evaluation of your dentures and devices for comfort and fit
- Prevention and oral care protocols
Maxillofacial prosthetics services
After treatment, head and neck cancer patients may need prostheses — artificial replacements, either inside or outside the mouth, for areas that were surgically removed. Prosthetics can be cosmetic (to improve your appearance) or functional (to restore your ability to speak or swallow, for example).
Prosthodontics is a subspecialty of prosthetics that restores head and neck defects beyond the immediate oral area. The most common operations performed by a maxillofacial prosthodontist at a cancer center are the restoration of missing jaw or facial structures. We perform surgical placement of implants to support or maintain prostheses and create devices to help deliver surgery or radiation therapy. Some of the intentions we provide include:
- Upper or lower jaw replacement with removable prostheses
- One day jaw restoration with surgically implanted prostheses
- Replacing a missing eye, ear or nose with craniofacial implants
- Bodily prostheses such as breasts or fingers
Our team will assess your needs prior to treatment, create and adjust your prostheses, and work closely with your surgeons to ensure that your physical appearance and abilities remain as close as possible to how which was before treatment.
Delays in adequate rehabilitation have significant consequences, including incomplete speech and swallowing, as well as psychosocial problems of a visibly missing body part. Roswell Park considers both the patient’s medical condition and the urgency of the procedure involved and aims to provide treatment with the fewest number of visits.
