Mouth and Throat Cancer

There are many symptoms that people may experience before being diagnosed with mouth or throat cancer. These include loose teeth, bleeding gums, sores that won’t heal, jaw pain or stiffness, a sore throat or tongue pain, difficulty swallowing, a lump or mass on the neck or mouth and dramatic weight loss.

Treatment includes surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy with some patients undergoing all three. It is quite common for people to have an operation and then undergo a 6-8 week course of radiotherapy. For the first 3 weeks of radiation treatment people may notice a redness to the affected area and then gradually the oncoming of a dry mouth.

Most surgeons s will do as much as they can to avoid harming the salivary glands but there are instances when this is difficult to manage and although some do recover partial use of their glands there are many more that suffer irreparable damage and as a consequence have a dry mouth for the rest of their lives.

The role of saliva is to protect against infection, remineralize the mouth, provide lubrication to help chew, swallow and digest food and neutralize the acid so keeping everything in good working order. Without saliva sufferers may find the mouth becomes sore, teeth become loose and they may well experience difficulty swallowing and a dry mouth.

Many people drink water to try and quell the dry mouth sensation, but this has a short-term benefit and can be impractical at times. One unique solution is XyliMelts as they increase saliva flow while reducing harmful bacteria, fighting plaque and freshening breath