{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T05:13:11Z","timestamp":1783487591376,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782777600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Radiotherapy (RT) for head and neck cancer (HNC) is associated with oral and functional toxicity, but integrated data combining dental status, nutritional indicators and patient-reported outcomes remain limited. This study evaluated oral, dental, functional, nutritional and quality-of-life outcomes after RT. Methods: This exploratory observational study combined a retrospective record review with a prospective cross-sectional assessment of patient-reported outcomes and included 20 adults treated with RT for HNC in a regional Slovenian clinical setting. Clinical, oncological, dental and nutritional variables were extracted from records, while patient-reported outcomes were assessed once at post-treatment follow-up using the EORTC QLQ-C30, EORTC QLQ-HN43 and a focused oral-health questionnaire. Results: The median time from RT completion to questionnaire assessment was 3.0 months. Dysphagia, xerostomia and taste disturbances after treatment were recorded in 85.0%, 80.0% and 75.0% of patients, respectively. Trismus was present in 40.0%, and weight loss &gt;10% in 55.0%. QLQ-HN43 domains with the highest burden included fear of progression, dry mouth\/sticky saliva, problems opening the mouth, social eating, weight loss and teeth problems. Swallowing was strongly associated with social eating (rho = 0.798, p &lt; 0.001), and mouth opening was inversely associated with patient-reported problems opening the mouth (rho = \u22120.610, p = 0.004). Conclusions: In this small exploratory cohort, substantial early post-treatment oral-functional morbidity was observed. The findings suggest the potential value of integrated survivorship follow-up incorporating dental, nutritional, functional, and patient-reported outcome monitoring.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm15135107","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T00:50:37Z","timestamp":1782867037000},"page":"5107","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Impact of Radiotherapy on the Condition of the Oral Cavity in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-5861-2308","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tilen","family":"Dervari\u010d","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elias Pascal","family":"Bra\u010dko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7872-586X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Petra","family":"Povalej Brzan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5941-6057","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Janez","family":"Rebol","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia"},{"name":"Clinic for Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Centre Maribor, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"c4684","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.c4684","article-title":"Head and neck cancer\u2014Part 1: Epidemiology, presentation, and prevention","volume":"341","author":"Mehanna","year":"2010","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"103","article-title":"Smernice za obravnavo rakov glave in vratu","volume":"13","author":"Strojan","year":"2009","journal-title":"Onkologija"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.4161\/cbt.9.1.10905","article-title":"The molecular pathogenesis of head and neck cancer","volume":"9","author":"Klein","year":"2010","journal-title":"Cancer Biol. 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