Treatments for oral cancer
Your healthcare team will create a treatment plan just for you. The plan is based on your health and specific information about the cancer. What you want is also important when planning treatment. When deciding which treatments to offer for oral cancer, your healthcare team will consider:
- the size of the cancer
- the stage of the cancer
- where the cancer is in the mouth
- your overall health and ability to recover from treatment
- how a treatment will affect your appearance
- how a treatment will affect your speech and your ability to swallow and chew (often described as mouth or oral function)
- your lifestyle and what you prefer or want
Smoking tobacco can limit how well cancer treatment works. If you smoke, it is important to get help to quit before you start treatment.
Surgery is the main treatment for oral cancer. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy are also often used. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy may be used on their own as treatments for oral cancer or they may be given during the same time period (called chemoradiation). You may also have immunotherapy or targeted therapy.
Treatments for early-stage oral cancer
Treatments for locally advanced oral cancer
Treatments for recurrent or metastatic oral cancer
Surgery for oral cancer
Radiation therapy for oral cancer
Chemotherapy for oral cancer
Immunotherapy for oral cancer
Targeted therapy for oral cancer
Follow-up after treatment for oral cancer
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