Oral Cancer: Patients undergoing surgery for removal of cancer from the mouth often have large openings in the palate (roof of the mouth) where the cancer had been, leaving them unable to eat, drink or speak normally unless the defect is somehow repaired. One solution is the surgical reassignment of a muscle normally used for chewing to fill the space left in the palate, a procedure that has been advanced at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and has produced excellent results for head and neck cancer patients.

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