Let's talk Oral Health - Cancer therapy and home-based oral care

The third episode of our webinar series will explore how home based oral care can support cancer therapy.

Patients undergoing cancer treatment, particularly those receiving a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy for the treatment of head and neck cancer, are at high risk of developing oral conditions such as oral mucositis or xerostomia. Mucositis can be so debilitating that some patients may be hospitalized and fed through a tube or intravenously. The adverse effects of mucositis often affect compliance to cancer therapies causing interruptions or discontinuation of treatment, thus reducing patient’s chances of survival. Preventing and managing oral conditions is essential in the care of cancer patients. It requires an interdisciplinary approach with dentists, dental hygienists, nutritionists, oncologists and nurses working together to diagnose patients early and provide care to alleviate pain, keep patients nourished and manage the risk of secondary infections.

Prof. Carlo Lajolo, MD, DDS, PhD graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 1998 and in Dentistry in 2003, both cum Laude. He also obtained a PhD in 2007 and did research on biological reactivity to dental biomaterials, stem cells from dental pulp and authored several national and international publications (H-Index=19). After coordinating the master’s degree course in Oral Pathology and Surgery, he is now the director of the master’s degree course in Oral Medicine and Special Needs Patients and Associate Professor in the Head and Neck Department at the “Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli – IRCCS”, School of Dentistry, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, in Rome, Italy.

Ms. Susan Cotten, BSDH, RDH, OMT, owner of Oral Cancer Consulting (oralcancerconsulting.com), developed the "Cotten Method," a system that increases confidence in oral cancer screening and aids in reducing dental practice liability. She is a consultant with Alliance for HPV Free Colorado, a board member and oral cancer screening coordinator for Colorado Mission of Mercy, an RDH Advisory board member for the Oral Cancer Foundation, and a 2018 Sunstar/RDH Award of Distinction recipient.

Prof. Giovanni Scambia, PhD, is the scientific director of the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS and of the Department of Life Sciences and Public Health at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, Italy. Prof. Scambia obtained his degree in Medicine and Surgery in 1983 and did his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology till 1987 before becoming the director of the program in 2010. He is specialized in oncology and did extensive research that led to more than 1000 national and international publications (H-Index=87).

This is an online event. After the registration, the link to the live stream will appear on the right side.

On the day of the event, we advise you to join the stream on our YouTube channel via the button "watch on YouTube" in the left down corner of the video, to be able to interact with speakers.