Head and neck cancer is becoming a more recognizable pathology to the general population and dentists. The modes of treatment include surgery and/or radiation therapy. Where possible, pretreatment dental assessment shall be provided for these patients before they undergo radiation therapy. There are occasions, however, whereby head and neck cancer patients are not prepared optimally for radiati...

The search was performed in the PubMed database, and results of own research on effects antidepressants dental health were presented. Literature data impact methamphetamine use are also provided. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been shown to cause bru-xism, which can exacerbate temporomandibular joint disorder, tricyclic (especially low-dose amitriptyline) reduce risk bruxism cause...

Xerostomia, or dry mouth, is a common side effect of head and neck radiotherapy, Sjögren syndrome, diabetes, old age, and numerous medications. In this issue of the JCI, Xiao and colleagues identified glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) as a potential stimulus for salivary stem cell growth. Due to its ability to promote neuronal growth, differentiation, and survival, GDNF is curr...

Salivary gland agenesis is an extremely uncommon congenital anomaly, which may cause a profound xerostomia in children. The oral sequelae includes dental caries, candidosis, and ascending sialadenitits. The present report details a child with rampant dental caries secondary to xerostomia. Despite having oral disease for many years, the congenital absence of all the salivary glands failed to be ...

A 56-year-old human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected man presented with progressive interstitial lung disease (ILD) and lymphocyte infiltration of the salivary glands which mimicked autoimmune disease. Pneumonia, which was very likely caused by Pneumocystis carinii, developed after 3 courses of monthly methylprednisolone pulse therapy for ILD. Both enzyme immunoassay and Western blot analy...

Head and neck cancer is becoming a more recognizable pathology to the general population and dentists. The modes of treatment include surgery and/or radiation therapy. Pretreatment dental assessment should be provided for these patients before they undergo radiation therapy. There are occasions, however, whereby head and neck cancer patients are not prepared optimally and, as a result, they suc...

BACKGROUND Submandibular gland transfer has been widely used to prevent postradiation xerostomia in head-and-neck cancers. However, there are still some controversies. METHODS Six databases were searched, data extraction was performed and the risk of bias was assessed by 2 reviewers independently. The meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager, version 5.2. RESULTS A total of 7 trials...