Palliative care in Oral Cancer: Challenges and management

Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients. Oral cancer is one of the most fatal diseases causing significant morbidity and mortality among patients.It can cause various symptoms like pain, discomfort, dysphagia, difficulty in chewing and difficulty in speaking that can significantly affect the quality of life of such patients. Assessment of oral symptom burden and its proper management is essential for good patient care and treatment should be aimed to improve quality of life of such patients. Oral problems due to disease per se and complications of radiotherapy must be considered thoroughly and every effort should be taken to minimize the oral morbidity during and after cancer treatment. Palliative care of such patients should involve multidisciplinary approach that addresses physical, emotional, spiritual, and social concerns. This article gives an overview of various strategies in management of patients with oral cancer from a dental perspective, with improvisation in providing the best possible quality of life for both patient and their family.