Building on a long and distinguished history of providing dental and oral health services to cancer patients, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is expanding its clinical and research services in dentistry and maxillofacial prosthetics. The expanded services will be part of a newly established Department of Oral Oncology.

Cancer patients have unique dental and oral health needs that require the expertise of dental professionals with oncology experience. The team at Roswell Park monitors patients’ oral health before, during, and after treatment, creates custom-fit dental implants, and works to prevent and manage oral complications from cancer treatments.

The new department will serve as the academic home for an integrated team of clinicians and researchers who will focus exclusively on clinical care and translational research in oral oncology and dental medicine.

“Most cancer patients experience side effects or oral complications due to chemotherapy or radiation,” says Mukund Seshadri, DDS, PhD, the inaugural Chair of the Department of Oral Oncology and Director of the Center for Oral Oncology. “Some of these side effects, such as dry mouth, can be very painful and affect the way some people eat or speak. Restoring these basic functions is important to ensure that our patients regain their quality of life.”

The Center for Oral Oncology is a multidisciplinary, cutting-edge research program focused on preventive measures and treatment options for oral cancers, approaches for mitigating side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, and development of new imaging methods. The center will also serve as a platform to accelerate the translation of novel discoveries into meaningful outcomes for patients.

Dr. Seshadri’s team works closely with medical and radiation oncologists, speech and language pathologists, and surgeons in all treatment areas of the cancer center, including the Department of Head & Neck/Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Dr. Seshadri is actively recruiting faculty to build his oral oncology team.