Oral ulcerative mucositis is a common, painful, dose-limiting toxicity of drug and radiation therapy for cancer. This disorder is characterized by breakdown of the oral mucosa.   This results in the formation of ulcerative lesions. In granulocytopenic patients, these lesions are frequent portals of entry for indigenous oral bacteria often leading to sepsis or bacteremia Mucositis occurs to some degree in more than one third of patients receiving anti-neoplastic drug therapy. Mucositis occurs in almost all patients undergoing radiation therapy for cancer of the head and neck as well as a high percentage of patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation.