ICPA Hosts Clinical Series Episode On The Rising Need For Oral Medicine Specialists In Enhancing Life Quality Of Cancer Patients

Mumbai, Sept 12: India’s leading Pharma Company in the oral healthcare segment – ICPA Health Products Ltd (ICPA) hosted its latest Clinical Series episode on the rising need for oral medicine specialists in enhancing the quality of life of cancer patients on 24th August 2022. The 18th episode in the series had Dr Priyanka Sakhavalkar, MDS (OMDR), MSc (Lon), PhD (UK) as the guest speaker and, the session focused on the role dentists, especially oral medicine specialists, can play in the management of cancer patients with respect to various oral health issues that may arise during and after cancer treatment.

Dr Priyanka Sakhavalkar shared insights on oral care hygiene practices for cancer patients and recommendations for dentists including the need for being attentive to oral ulcers and burning sensations in the mouth. Dr Sakhavalkar stressed on the importance of providing prompt and effective ulcer treatment which may potentially even prevent cancer in some cases. Dr Sakhavalkar also recommended providing essential oral care after cancer therapy such as for oral mucositis using Benzydamine, Curcumin and soda-salt water; for xerostomia, using artificial saliva substitutes and for dental caries, topical fluoride applications.

Therapies for cancer treatment can inflict mouth sores and affect the salivary glands and the health of teeth and gums. Furthermore, since the white blood cell counts reduce due to cancer treatment, the immune system fails to function at its full potential, causing mouth infections. The role of a dentist before, during, and after cancer treatment becomes extremely critical in preventing unforeseen oral health complications. Dentists should not hesitate nor delay referring the cases to an oral medicine specialist whenever required for the correct diagnosis of oral lesions and to prevent cancer.

For the benefit of dentists who may have missed out, the session is available across ICPA’s various social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.

‘ICPA Clinical Series’ is an initiative to address specific clinical challenges dentists face in their everyday practice. Themed ‘Each Episode-One Clinical Challenge’, the series is moderated by ICPA’s Head of Research & Innovations – Dr Rajeev Chitguppi. Each session in the series has a guest speaker chosen from specialists from various domains of dentistry.