“I think for lack of a better medical word, it is really cool,” Dr. Khatib said. “The technology behind this is phenomenal.”
A diagnosis of oral, head or neck cancer can mean a series of surgeries to remove the tumor, rebuild the jaw and teeth and then implant new teeth. That can take one to two years.
During the process, the patient has no teeth for six months to a year. Not only does this severely affect their ability to talk and chew, but also their mental health and ability to interact with others.
“One of the devastating things with oral cancer is that – not only does it require this large removal of the area of the cancer, but this can affect the way patients look, speak, interact with people afterwards, and this is a lifelong, what used to be a disfiguring type of surgery,” Dr. Khatib said.