The general dental practitioner (GDP) plays a critical role in managing head and neck cancer patients. The first and most important role is to offer preventive services, particularly to smokers and to patients who drink alcohol to excess. It is of critical importance that every patient has a systematic examination of oral soft tissues when seen by a GDP. All patients with suspicious lesions should be referred for urgent attention to a specialist centre. Once oral cancer has been diagnosed, GDPs may be presented with patients requiring urgent dentistry, including extractions before commencement of treatment, requiring palliation of symptoms during treatment, or requiring general dentistry after treatment. Radiotherapy provides increased survival but has serious adverse consequences, which may be lifelong, including dry mouth, radiation caries, limitation of mouth opening and high risk of osteonecrosis after extractions. Extraction of teeth in irradiated bone should be referred to specialist centres. Improving survival rates and an ageing population mean that GDPs will see many more survivors of head and neck cancer in the future, with an increased burden of dental care in the longer-term and an increased need for monitoring and secondary prevention.
Clinical relevance: The management of patients with head and neck cancer is complex and involves a multi-disciplinary team, both in the primary treatment but also in the long-term care. This paper reviews the consequences of treatment for head and neck cancer and gives practical advice for GDPs and their team in the long-term care of these patients.