Optimising oral health outcomes for cancer patients: A clinician’s guide to prevention and management

As dental professionals, we have all had that gut-wrenching moment when a cancer patient walks through our door mid-treatment. Their mouths are full of ulcers, their teeth are crumbling, sometimes there is exposed bone. We then think, “If only I’d seen you sooner.” Here is the hard truth: we are failing these patients—not because we lack skill or compassion, but because we are not integrated into their cancer care teams.