Table 1.

Prevalence of oral symptoms in a cohort of patients with advanced cancer receiving specialist palliative care [13]

Oral symptom	Number of patients (n = 250)
“Dry mouth”	209 (83.5%)
“Taste disturbance”	139 (55.5%)
“Coating of tongue”	117 (47.0%)
“Lip discomfort”	96 (38.5%)
“Dirty mouth”	88 (35.0%)
“Difficulty swallowing”	86 (34.5%)
“Cracking of lips”	85 (34.0%)
“Mouth discomfort/pain”	76 (30.5%)
“Difficulty speaking”	68 (27.0%)
“Difficulty chewing”	57 (23.0%)
“Cracking of corner of mouth”	56 (22.5%)
“Sensitivity of teeth”	52 (21.0%)
“Ulcers in mouth”	42 (17.0%)
“Bad breath”	41 (16.5%)
“Jagged teeth”	41 (16.5%)
“Altered sensation in mouth”	27 (11.0%)
“Denture fitting problems”	26 (10.0%)
“Toothache/pain in teeth”	25 (10.0%)
“Burning sensation in mouth”	24 (9.5%)
“Bleeding from mouth”	19 (7.5%)