Listen to Your Dentist When They Recommend Wisdom Teeth Extraction

While chemotherapy has great benefits for ridding your body of cancer, it is also a treatment that can be rough on your body. Taking care of your health while undergoing chemotherapy treatment is vital, including your oral health. Follow these tips for ensuring your teeth and gums remain healthy during and after your chemotherapy treatments.

Understanding Chemotherapy Side Effects That Impact Your Mouth

Discussing with your oncologist about any side effects that may occur because of chemotherapy is important. Many of the side effects do affect the mouth. The following are some of the more common side effects you may experience in your mouth during chemotherapy treatments:

• Taste changes: Many cancer patients receiving chemotherapy experience a taste of metal in their mouth when they eat some foods. In many cases, patients stop eating enough to meet their nutritional requirements, a serious problem when your body is battling cancer. You might consider adding a sweetener to your foods like maple syrup. If you prefer a taste that is not too sweet, adding lime or lemon juice can help to squelch the taste on metal when you eat.
• Tooth discoloration: Some people undergoing chemotherapy experience tooth staining. If your teeth have a deep yellowish color and you have had chemo treatments, your dentist can help. Some whitening treatments help, but in more severe cases, dental veneers are the best choice.
• Painful gums: Sore gums and sores in the mouth are common in patients undergoing chemotherapy. Your dentist or oncologist can prescribe mouthwash and other medications to help soothe the pain and help heal the sores. Infection can be a serious problem as well because of chemotherapy lowering your immunity, so taking care to heal sores in your mouth is important to avoid it.

Dental Care Before Your Chemotherapy Starts

Visiting your dentist before your chemotherapy treatments starts is a good idea. In this way, you can have issues like cavities taken care of before your treatment for cancer. If you experience any of the oral side effects of chemotherapy, you certainly do not want those issues on top of painful cavities and existing teeth that are abscessed or infected. Be sure to tell your dentist, such as Leo Uicker DDS, you are preparing for chemo to learn any tips he or she has to help you take the best care of your oral health during cancer treatments.

Taking care of your health before, during and after chemotherapy can be tough, especially when you feel tired and sick from chemotherapy. However, by doing so, you have higher chances of getting the most from your treatments and feeling better about yourself at the same time.