Mouth and Throat Tumors: Your Health Care Team

Your health care team will explain your options and can answer your questions. They’ll work with you during all stages of your treatment. Members of your health care team may include:

• A primary care physician, a doctor who oversees your health needs

• A head and neck surgeon, a doctor who performs mouth and throat surgery. He or she may be an otolaryngologist (also called an ENT), who treats ear, nose, and throat diseases, or a general surgeon, who also performs other kinds of surgery.

• A dentist, a doctor who treats tooth and gum diseases and injuries

• Nurses, who care for you and teach you how to care for yourself

• An oncologist, a doctor who specializes in treating cancer

• An anesthesiologist, a doctor who gives medication to prevent pain during and after surgery

• A pathologist, a doctor who identifies diseases by studying cells and tissues with a microscope

• The radiation team, doctors and therapists who use high energy x-rays to treat diseases

• Speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists, who help you recover after treatment

• Dietitians, who help plan your diet during and after treatment