Common oral complications of head and neck cancer radiation therapy: mucositis, infections, saliva change, fibrosis, sensory dysfunctions, dental caries, periodontal disease, and osteoradionecrosis.

Patients undergoing radiation therapy for the head and neck are susceptible to a significant and often abrupt deterioration in their oral health. The oral morbidities of radiation therapy include but are not limited to an increased susceptibility to dental caries and periodontal disease. They also include profound and often permanent functional and sensory changes involving the oral soft tissue.

Tweeting about pain: comparing self-reported toothache experiences with those of backaches, earaches and headaches.

Background: The authors conducted a study of tweets posted on Twitter to compare self-reported toothache experiences with those of backache, earache and headache in regard to pain intensity, action taken, perceived cause and effect of pain.

Methods: From a total of 508,591 relevant tweets collected on seven nonconsecutive days, the authors randomly selected 1,204 tweets (301 per pain type) and conducted content analyses of each tweet.

Results: Toothaches were described as having higher pain intensity than were earaches or headaches but pain intensity comparable with that of backaches.