ROLE OF NATURALLY OCCURRING AGENTS IN TREATMENT OF RADIO-CHEMOTHERAPY INDUCED ORAL MUCOSITIS: A REVIEW
Mucositis is one of the most common side effects of the therapy for the management of cancer; be it radiotherapy, chemotherapy or combination of both. Oral mucositis is of very common occurrence in the patients who are treated for the squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck region. The therapy targeted towards the oro-pharangeal region most often leads to this side effect. Not only the treatment regimen gets altered sometimes, but the quality of life of the patients also is compromised because of difficulty in normal intake of food. A wide range of mouthwashes, emollients and mucosal barriers have been tried to curb up the sequel of oral mucositis and every product has its limitations; be it the cost or side effects. Naturally occurring products have been available around us since the advent of mankind and various products have been used traditionally for their medicinal properties. This paper attempts to review an array of naturally occurring products which can be utilized for the treatment of radio-chemotherapy induced oral...