Oral health and cancer Your tongue health
March 31, 2025 Word for Word Media
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Melanie Wright explores tongue health and what it reveals about your well-being, as well as signs of tongue cancer. 

You can listen to this article below, or by using your favourite podcast player at pod.link/oncologybuddies

Your tongue plays a crucial role in daily life; helping with speaking, tasting, chewing, and swallowing. But have you ever considered how your tongue’s health reflects your overall well-being? Changes in colour, texture, or appearance can be early signs of health conditions, including cancer.  Understanding the normal anatomy of the tongue The tongue is a muscular organ covered with a mucous membrane and is divided…

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Oral health and cancer Oral hygienists: the essential allies
April 1, 2024 Word for Word Media
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Melanie Wright unpacks the invaluable role oral hygienists play in the care of head and neck cancer patients undergoing treatment.

You can listen to this article below, or by using your favourite podcast player at pod.link/oncologybuddies

Patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer present with unique challenges to their oral health-related quality of life. This can be brought upon by the disease itself or the management thereof. Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy can profoundly affect oral health, leading to complications that demand specialised and focused care. Amidst this challenging landscape, oral hygienists emerge as essential allies, providing critical support…

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Oral health and cancer The importance of dental visits before head and neck oncology treatment
July 31, 2023 Word for Word Media
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 With September being Oral Health Month, Dr Michael Michael explains why it’s vital to have dental visits before head and neck oncology treatment.

You can listen to this article below, or by using your favourite podcast player at pod.link/oncologybuddies

A diagnosis of cancer is a life-altering event for those being diagnosed as well as for those closest. This comes with the reality and emotion of facing mortality and the path of treatment ahead. There is little time to grasp and accept what this means as multiple visits are scheduled with various practitioners. This is particularly true for patients diagnosed with cancer in…

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Oral health and cancer Oral health related to oncology
September 30, 2020 Word for Word Media
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Oral health related to oncology Being a cancer patient is already daunting with a long journey of treatment and recovery. Oral side effects don’t have to be an additional burden. Oral hygienist, Sarie Liebenberg, enlightens us. Effects of chemotherapy Chemotherapy affects rapidly dividing cells. These include cells of the lining of the mouth, gastrointestinal tract, bone marrow- and hair cells. Chemotherapy can’t differentiate between normal and malignant cells and sometimes injures both. It may lower your white blood cell-, platelet- and red blood cell count, known as marrow suppression. This increases the risk for infection and/or bleeding.  Infection may become…

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