The treatment of oral cancer is an important consideration because if the cancer of the mouth is not treated, then it can lead to the formation of secondaries that affect the other parts of the body. There are many people who do not take the cancer of the mouth to be a serious problem. They think that it is not as serious as the cancer in other parts of the body. In fact, many people delay the treatment of oral cancer.
There are some common methods that can be used in the treatment of oral cancer. The main goals of oral cancer treatment are to prevent the occurrence of secondary metastases, as the formation of them will complicate matters and make the disease to become more serious.
Importance of early treatment of the disease is primary. The first thing that has to be done is the diagnosis of the disease. As soon as the disease is diagnosed by methods like clinical examination and radio diagnosis, the treatment plan for the person has to be charted out.
The plan of treating oral cancer may change from one person to another depending on the severity of the disease. There era some common methods that are used in the treatment of oral cancer for all people and they are listed here.
1. Chemotherapy:
This is the mainstay of the treatment. In this method, the drugs are given to the person. Various combinations of drugs are given in high doses. The aim is to make these drugs to become toxic to the tissues that are cancerous. The toxic chemicals will help to kill the tissues that are growing at a fast pace. The only problem with the use of chemotherapy is that the person who is affected and treated with this therapy will have various complications and side effects. The toxic drugs can also damage the kidney and the liver of the person. Other than this, nausea, hair fall and vomiting are side effects because of the chemotherapy.
2. Radiation therapy:
This is the method in which the person who is suffering from oral cancer is given various doses of radiation. This radiation will help to decrease the mass of the tumour and also finally kill the tumour. Radiation therapy can also have various side effects. This is the passage of high doses of radiation directly at the tumour. Though the tumour may usually die at that point, there is a risk of the disease exacerbating or increasing in magnitude after the doses of treatment.
3. Surgical therapy:
The surgery is another mainstay of any cancer treatment. It is also true in the treatment of cancer of the mouth. The cancer in the mouth can affect various tissues like the gums, the cheeks and also the various other tissues. This can lead to the formation of sores that keep bleeding. There could also be a mass that keeps growing in size because the characteristic tumour starts growing at a high speed when compared to the normal tissue.
Immediate removal of these tissues that are causing the cancer will be the best method of treating oral cancer. There are complications in surgery too like the non healing of the surgery wound, high rates of infection and the tumour breaking loose and causing growth of the tumour in other parts of the body.
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