According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the second cause of morbidity and mortality in Brazil is cancer. Malignant neoplasm of the head and neck is considered one of the main tumors in Brazil and in the world, with high mortality rates. This is due to the diagnosis, which is made late, often when the disease has advanced clinical stages, reaching metastasis. This work is a descriptive study of secondary data carried out through a survey by the Department of Informatics of the Brazilian Unified Health System. After obtaining the data, they were tabulated. A literature review was also carried out to support the research, using the Google Academic, Scielo and Pubmed platforms. The analysis was performed using mortality data from malignant neoplasms of the lip, oral cavity and pharynx in Pernambuco from 1996 to 2019 and, according to the survey, 6,121 deaths were registered. The data showed a higher mortality rate in males; patients between 55 and 64 years old; in addition to brown people. The highest number of deaths in individuals with less education was also observed. Although studies on the prevention and cure of cancer are currently intermittent, the data analyzed show that the rates of appearance of new cases have grown in recent years and tend to increase in the next due to daily life habits. Thus, it is important to invest in research aimed at inhibiting the appearance of new neoplasms.

Introduction: Dentistry currently plays an important role in the different therapeutic phases against cancer, whether in the phase that precedes cancer treatment, where a previous evaluation can effectively reduce complications arising from infectious or inflammatory processes of oral origin, which can exacerbate during treatment. and after neoplastic treatment, or in the prevention of oral sequelae that occur during and after radiotherapy treatment. Objectives: To carry out a literature review on the oral manifestations resulting from radiotherapy, addressing the management and treatment of complications. Materials and methods: This is a descriptive work with a qualitative aspect of literature review, where scientific articles and books were used as research sources. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 96 studies were found and 22 were selected. Results and discussion: The oral manifestations resulting from radiotherapy are well recognized in the literature and the most frequent are oral mucositis, xerostomia, loss of taste, trismus and osteoradionecrosis. Conclusion: Adequacy of medium before radiotherapy treatment is widely recommended in the literature as a prevention of oral manifestations resulting from cancer treatment. In addition, dental follow-up of the patient during cancer treatment is necessary, for this, it is recommended that the dentist be part of the multidisciplinary oncology team. Thus, combining prevention with follow-up, it is possible to obtain a reduction in the rates of involvement of these manifestations and, consequently, less interruption of treatment and an improvement in the quality of life of radiotherapy patients.