Dr. Owosho obtained is dental degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria after which he practiced dentistry for 2 years. He completed a 3-year residency training in Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pennsylvania. Subsequently, he completed a 2-year Oral/Dental Oncology clinical research fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. After his fellowship training, he joined the faculty of the College of Dental Medicine, University of New England, Maine as an Assistant Clinical Professor of oral and maxillofacial pathology and oral medicine. In 2019, he joined the Missouri School of Dentistry and Oral Health, A.T. Still University as an Associate Professor and Director of Integrated Human Sciences. In August 2022, Dr. Owosho joined The University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, College of Dentistry, Department of Diagnostic Sciences as an Associate Professor.

Dr. Owosho’s clinical and research interest lies in the prevention and management of oral complications in oncology patients, immunophenotypic and molecular studies of odontogenic tumors, and bone and soft tissue tumors. He has co-authored several manuscripts on these topics in reputable peer-reviewed journals of Pathology and Dentistry and was the recipient of the 2018 H. Dean Millard award for the best publication in the oral medicine Section of Elsevier’s Oral Surgery Oral Medicine Oral Pathology Oral Radiology Journal by the American Academy of Oral Medicine.

Dr. Owosho serves on the academic fellowship committee as a fellowship examiner for the American Academy of Oral Medicine.

Approximately 50,000 individuals are newly diagnosed with oral and pharyngeal cancer every year in the United States. Most patients are diagnosed at a later stage thereby warranting the use of radiotherapy either as neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy. Even with advanced radiation delivery techniques such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy and intensity-modulated proton therapy, oral complications such as xerostomia, caries, trismus, and osteoradionecrosis (ORN) still exist. Post-radiation patients to the oral and oropharynx cavity are prone to developing rampant dental caries that may result in dental extractions.

ORN is the most morbid oral complication of radiotherapy that may be managed with segmental jaw resection and reconstruction with bone flap/graft. The risk of osteoradionecrosis post-extraction in an irradiated oral/pharynx cavity is for life. Prevention of ORN in these patients is crucial. This lecture will focus on the use of pentoxifylline-tocopherol in preventing ORN in post-radiation patients who require dental extractions.

At the conclusion of this course, participants should be able to::

• Understand the etiology, risk factors, pathophysiology, and management of ORN.

• Understand the pharmacologic properties of pentoxifylline and tocopherol.

• Prophylactic use of pentoxifylline and tocopherol for preventing ORN in post-irradiated patient requiring dental extractions.