Oral complications of cancer therapies. Essential aspects of a pretreatment oral examination.

Certain disease entities or their management impose conditions that heighten risks of oral complications or systemic complications of oral origin. The pretreatment oral examination attempts to identify the main factors that will cause risk so that steps may be taken to control or eliminate as many as practical before treatment is begun. Additional tests may be indicated to provide more detailed information on which to base clinical diagnoses and oral therapy.