Prosthetic rehabilitation of the head and neck cancer patient

The interested general dentist does have an opportunity at times to provide prosthetic rehabilitation services for the head and neck cancer patient who arises in his practice. Also if the dentist is associated with a hospital that does head and neck cancer surgery, he will find that his services will be requested more frequently. Although the scope of maxillofacial prosthetics encompasses many complicated types of prostheses for the head and neck area, the general dentist using equipment and supplies readily available in his office can prepare many kinds of simple oral prostheses. These prostheses can return a patient who is unable to speak, eat, or swallow appropriately back to full function. In addition to providing routine general dental care for these patients it is the responsibility of the dentist to provide these prosthetic rehabilitative prostheses to the head and neck cancer patient in his practice or see to it that the patient is referred to a nearby maxillofacial prosthetic center.