As the medical community grapples with a significant rise in HPV-related head and neck cancers among younger, non-smoking demographics, a local expert is sounding the alarm on a secondary, silent crisis: the rapid and devastating loss of dental health following life-saving radiation.
Dr. CJ Henley, DMD, a Jacksonville-based dental specialist on staff at Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center, is calling for a radical shift in post-oncology dental protocols. He warns that the “routine” dental model—typically defined by six-month cleanings and standard oral hygiene—is dangerously insufficient for the biological reality of a post-radiation mouth.
The Myth of the “Healthy” Survivor…