**1. Introduction**

The term oral cancer is used as a synonym for squamous cell carcinoma, which constitutes 90% of malignant neoplasms. Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are the election treatments. The selection of an only treatment or combination depends principally on the location of the tumour, its size, histological subtype, stage and the patient's general state of health. Surgery and RTP tend to be used alone to treat cases of non-metastatic disease (stages I and II), whereas more advanced cancers (III and IV) are treated by surgery in combination with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. It is important to bear in mind that the surgeries these patients undergo are aggressive. They provoke aesthetic and functional alterations that affect the patient's quality of life.

Prior to undergoing radiotherapy treatment, it is important that patients with head and neck cancer undergo a dental evaluation. This is because surgery provokes big aesthetic and functional alterations. Therefore, patients who already show deficient oral health before treatment are likely to leave their oral hygiene, increasing the gravity of complications.

There are a number of complications that appear in the head and neck region, not only during treatment but also, after. These include mucositis, dental caries and xerostomia. In this paper, we will describe the adverse, acute and late complications, as well as the treatment guidelines. Furthermore, we will develop a patient management protocol for before, during and after radiotherapy.

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