Patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiotherapy experience several problems of saliva production. Head and neck cancer is a malignant tumor that grows in the nostrils, mouth, throat, esophagus, and sinuses. Radiotherapy is a therapy to treat head and neck cancer, in addition to chemotherapy and surgery. Besides, a lack of saliva production can cause various problems, including thrush or other inflammation of the mouth, pain during talking and eating, and psychological disorders due to discomfort such as sadness and depression. As a result, patients can be malnourished and experience mental health problems that have an impact on worsening cancer.
Several alternatives can be used to treat deficiency of saliva production, namely chewing gum made from xylitol and cryotherapy / cold therapy. Both of these therapies have proven effective for increasing saliva production. The method is quite easy, inexpensive, and there are no side effects. For chewing gum therapy, they have to chew gum for 10 minutes made of xylitol 6 times: 2 pieces in the morning, afternoon, and afternoon for one week.
Chewing gum can increase the production of saliva, thereby increasing oral moisture, maintaining the acidity of the oral cavity, and reducing bacteria, making it beneficial for head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy. Cryotherapy is also easy, and you need to suck ice cubes (ice cube) before and after a radiotherapy session for five minutes, carried out continuously for one week. It has also been shown to increase saliva production, although it is not as effective as chewing gum therapy.
With the proven effectiveness of these two therapies, people with head and neck cancer who are undergoing radiotherapy / light therapy can try both of these alternative therapies to prevent mouth ulcers and inflammation due to lack of saliva production.
Penulis: Ninuk Dian Kurniawati
Informasi hasil riset dapat dibaca di https://e-journal.unair.ac.id/JNERS/article/view/19444
