Dry mouth, also called xerostomia, is a condition that can interfere with everyday activities, such as eating, talking or sleeping. Some common symptoms of dry mouth include:
What is radiation therapy?
Using of ionizing radiation to kill cancer cells.
How does radiotherapy work?
Radiation therapy kills cells by interacting with the water molecules which are present in our cell. Charged molecules will be produced and distrupt the biochemical process of our cells. (DNA is damaged) Continue reading
Amyloidosis is the deposition of amyloid proteins in body tissues leading to tissue damage. Amyloidosis is classified as either primary or secondary. The former results from multiple myelomaor an idiopathic disease, while the latter is a sequela of a chronic or inflammatory disease process. These classifications are based on the type of fibrillar protein deposited. The primary form usually affects the skin, heart, tongue, and GI tract, while the secondary form, although more common, has no cutaneous manifestations. Continue reading
Osteoradionecrosis (ORN) is a condition of nonvital bone in a site of radiation injury. ORN can be spontaneous, but it most commonly results from tissue injury. The absence of reserve reparative capacity is a result of the prior radiation injury. Even apparently innocuous forms of trauma such as denture-related injury, ulcers, or tooth extraction can overwhelm the reparative capacity of the radiation-injured bone. Continue reading
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Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy is one of 3 treatment options that can be used to treat tumours, the other 2 being surgical removal and chemotherapy. Sometimes these therapies are used in combination with each other. There are many structures in the head and neck, therefore radiation to the head and neck area (could be due to oral, nose, skin etc cancers) can cause a multitude of complications as listed below: Continue reading
If you have less than normal amount of saliva, you are having xerostomia. It is the dryness of the mouth which is a clinical manifestation os salivary gland dysfunction.
Saliva has many different functions; to name a few, digestion, lubrication, to help you taste food, to protect your teeth from tooth decay, helping you swallow food, and protection your mouth from infection. It is produced by the many salivary glands in out mouth. There are 3 pairs of major salivary glands (the parotid glands, the submandibular glands and the sublingual glands, one of each on each side of the face) and over 600 minor salivary glands. These glands are connected by a duct and open into the mouth via small orifices. Sometimes we take saliva for granted such that we don’t realize how important it is until we’ve lost it. A normal person produces 4-6 cups of saliva daily. If the production decreases, he or she will have symptoms of “dry mouthâ€, or “xerostomiaâ€, resulting in a great discomfort and inconvenience. It is a common phenomenon especially among middle aged and elderly women.
Dry and fissured tongue