Abstract
This chapter discusses how cancerocidal levels of irradiation in the area of the head and neck produce not only very painful problems in the oral soft tissues but also a ravaging form of dental caries that is remarkably destructive. In an experiment described in the chapter, ten white males received 224 rads per day, four days per week, over a six-week period. Unstimulated whole saliva flow rate decreased by 60% after the first week of treatment, and only 5% of total flow remained at the end of the six-week treatment period. In another experiment involving unstimulated whole saliva, the flow rate decreased markedly during the initial three treatment days and gradually thereafter until a minimal flow rate was attained. Early in the treatment, variable degrees of recovery were seen on Mondays following a weekend without treatment. It appears clear that the radiation within itself does not exert a direct deleterious effect on the teeth.
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