Dental problems after radiation, 2nd time

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Comments

  • ggpierce
    ggpierce Member Posts: 30
    Hondo said:

    Hi Mike
    Thanks for the tip I think I too will give them a call as I don’t an extra $20,000 laying around doing nothing just to pay for fixing my teeth.

    I am not sure why people think that when you have Cancer you are rich, if anything most of us are broke from paying all these doctor & Hospital bills.

    Thanks
    Hondo

    One thing I have discovered
    One thing I have discovered is, don't get in any hurry. I have sent in emails to the american dental ****., acs, several dentists, two universities. Still waiting. I have heard from acs. they referred me to a couple websites to explore. At the rate my teeth have started falling apart I can't wait. I am making an apt. next week to start pulling the worst of them. They are cutting my lips, tongue and cheeks.
  • denistd
    denistd Member Posts: 597
    ggpierce said:

    One thing I have discovered
    One thing I have discovered is, don't get in any hurry. I have sent in emails to the american dental ****., acs, several dentists, two universities. Still waiting. I have heard from acs. they referred me to a couple websites to explore. At the rate my teeth have started falling apart I can't wait. I am making an apt. next week to start pulling the worst of them. They are cutting my lips, tongue and cheeks.

    Teeth
    Not sure I would go ahead and have them all pulled before I talked to an oral surgeon about hyperbaric treatment first, if no HBO the jaw bone can die and break up over time.
  • backachedp
    backachedp Member Posts: 132
    Dental
    If anyone finds out anything else I would appreciate a note as Bob has litterally no teeth and we cannot afford implant's..if not for the Cancer Bob had beautiful GOOD teeth..now he is toothless and we only get 1,500 a year towards any Dental work..waiting to hear if Insurance will pay due to Cancer being the cause of all his Dental issues...
  • backachedp
    backachedp Member Posts: 132

    UNIVERSITY DENTAL SCHOOLS
    Have you looked into a Universities Dental School? My mom years ago was given free and some discouted dental work / procedures through a University School of Dentistry here in St. Louis.

    Mike

    Dental Schools
    Bob has gone to the U of Mn Dental School and it is a bit cheaper, but they refuse to do anymore until they are assured Insurance will pay...as I stated earlier we get 1500.00 a year towards Denatl and awaiting Insurance approval that it SHOULD be covered by Medical...it is a waiting game and Bob has been running around without teeth for month's he just had more removed last week and it is the 1st time they gave him an rx for pain.
  • ggpierce
    ggpierce Member Posts: 30
    Update* I have talked with
    Update* I have talked with my Dr. and Vanderbilt, he suggests the Hyperbaric Oxygen treatment if you are more than 1 year out from treatment, not before, and the farther out from treatment you are the better. The issue is the possiblility of the Oxygen treatments "kick starting" a dormant cancer cell that might still be hanging around. He says studies show the possiblility of this, but no numbers on the studies. So I'm 2 years out, I've already had some teeth pulled and they healed up alright. I am going to see an oral surgeon today, if he agree's I am going to forego the Oxygen treatment and get them pulled. The greatest danger is with the back teeth, I only have 4 left so I think I will be good. Vandy has a Dental school, so I may get help there.
    I will post an update when I know something.

    Thanks for your input.
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    ggpierce said:

    Update* I have talked with
    Update* I have talked with my Dr. and Vanderbilt, he suggests the Hyperbaric Oxygen treatment if you are more than 1 year out from treatment, not before, and the farther out from treatment you are the better. The issue is the possiblility of the Oxygen treatments "kick starting" a dormant cancer cell that might still be hanging around. He says studies show the possiblility of this, but no numbers on the studies. So I'm 2 years out, I've already had some teeth pulled and they healed up alright. I am going to see an oral surgeon today, if he agree's I am going to forego the Oxygen treatment and get them pulled. The greatest danger is with the back teeth, I only have 4 left so I think I will be good. Vandy has a Dental school, so I may get help there.
    I will post an update when I know something.

    Thanks for your input.

    Possiblility
    I think this possibility or thought of the possibility has come up on here before....

    I don't think there has ever been any documented confirmation, at least that I can remember.

    Unfortunately, the possibility of deriving cancer seems to be pretty prevalent with nearly everythng in existance these days.

    As mentioned several times before, there's always a chance of deriving a secondary cancer from the radiation that we recieved to kill the first cancer that we had.

    JG
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    ggpierce said:

    Update* I have talked with
    Update* I have talked with my Dr. and Vanderbilt, he suggests the Hyperbaric Oxygen treatment if you are more than 1 year out from treatment, not before, and the farther out from treatment you are the better. The issue is the possiblility of the Oxygen treatments "kick starting" a dormant cancer cell that might still be hanging around. He says studies show the possiblility of this, but no numbers on the studies. So I'm 2 years out, I've already had some teeth pulled and they healed up alright. I am going to see an oral surgeon today, if he agree's I am going to forego the Oxygen treatment and get them pulled. The greatest danger is with the back teeth, I only have 4 left so I think I will be good. Vandy has a Dental school, so I may get help there.
    I will post an update when I know something.

    Thanks for your input.

    Oxygen treatment

    I have heard it play on both sides of the fence that Oxygen was a cancer started and Oxygen was a cancer killer. I know a lot of people who did the HBO treatment and so far they are all doing very well. When you pull the 4 back teeth just have you dentist monitor the healing progress. If he sees that you are not healing right then you might want him to have a HBO set up for you somewhere, just to be on the safe side.

    Take care
    Hondo
  • ggpierce
    ggpierce Member Posts: 30
    Hondo said:

    Oxygen treatment

    I have heard it play on both sides of the fence that Oxygen was a cancer started and Oxygen was a cancer killer. I know a lot of people who did the HBO treatment and so far they are all doing very well. When you pull the 4 back teeth just have you dentist monitor the healing progress. If he sees that you are not healing right then you might want him to have a HBO set up for you somewhere, just to be on the safe side.

    Take care
    Hondo

    I met with the Oral Surgeons
    I met with the Oral Surgeons yesterday and Vanderbilt. They consulted with my ENT Onclology/surgeon, and have suggested no HBO treatment. One of the determining factors was that I had a tooth pulled about 9 months ago and it healed up OK. They are scheduling me to have all removed, in an operating room to do it as "gently" as possible.

    So, waiting for them to call and let me know when.

    Wish me luck, and no pain. HA HA!
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    ggpierce said:

    I met with the Oral Surgeons
    I met with the Oral Surgeons yesterday and Vanderbilt. They consulted with my ENT Onclology/surgeon, and have suggested no HBO treatment. One of the determining factors was that I had a tooth pulled about 9 months ago and it healed up OK. They are scheduling me to have all removed, in an operating room to do it as "gently" as possible.

    So, waiting for them to call and let me know when.

    Wish me luck, and no pain. HA HA!

    All for and one for all
    All at once

    Great to hear they don’t think you will need the HBO treatment that will help with expense. I wish you well on getting them all puller at once, I guess if you are going to pull them that is the way to do it.

    Take care
    Hondo
  • osmotar
    osmotar Member Posts: 1,006
    ggpierce said:

    I met with the Oral Surgeons
    I met with the Oral Surgeons yesterday and Vanderbilt. They consulted with my ENT Onclology/surgeon, and have suggested no HBO treatment. One of the determining factors was that I had a tooth pulled about 9 months ago and it healed up OK. They are scheduling me to have all removed, in an operating room to do it as "gently" as possible.

    So, waiting for them to call and let me know when.

    Wish me luck, and no pain. HA HA!

    Great
    Great news......good luck with teh surgery.

    Linda
  • denistd
    denistd Member Posts: 597
    osmotar said:

    Great
    Great news......good luck with teh surgery.

    Linda

    Teeth
    Glad you are getting them done in a hospital setting, thats where mine was done. I looked last night at my account page with Highmark, it showed the hospital was paid $13,000, this does not include the surgeons fee as he is independent, I am told it's around $5,000, this to get 17 teeth extracted, it was done as outpatient. Good luck lad. Denis
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    denistd said:

    Teeth
    Glad you are getting them done in a hospital setting, thats where mine was done. I looked last night at my account page with Highmark, it showed the hospital was paid $13,000, this does not include the surgeons fee as he is independent, I am told it's around $5,000, this to get 17 teeth extracted, it was done as outpatient. Good luck lad. Denis

    Money Money Money

    Wow that a little over 1000 bucks a tooth to get removed, hope the tooth fairy helps with the co-pay. I will see the dentist this coming Tuesday to see what he thinks about my teeth, if it is too much they will need to stay in and rot out.

    Hondo
  • Nidociv
    Nidociv Member Posts: 12
    My Dental Trip
    I had a tooth chip off at the gum and it became infected in June, put me on antibiotics for 2 weeks then had to do 20 HBO treatments, had the tooth pulled and back for 10 more HBOs. TOTAL COST $42,000... My cost is about $1,200... Just had 2 more teeth on the other side fall apart, have to be pulled, ENT says more HBOs, they are trying to decide how many this time. I finished chemo and rads in Oct,08 and my mouth has been a disaster since then, but I'll live with it considering what we go thru. Good Luck to all, just wanted to tell you my experiences so far. Randy
  • jillsullivan69
    jillsullivan69 Member Posts: 1
    ljoy said:

    Dental Problems
    When I had oral surgery a year ago the cost was filed on Medical insurance and not dental since it was caaused by radiation treatment for tonsil cancer. You may want to check your medical coverage if you have it.

    Radiation caused my teeth to crumble away.

    I have had so much radiation from fighting cancer for 20 years that my Saliva glands were fried, as well as my Thyroid gland. My Oral Surgeon said he needed to remove some of my teeth, even the $10K beautiful porcelin crowns that I had done in 2006, post radiation, may have to come out?. The surgeon said the extractions/surgery  was covered as was the 30 Hyperberic treatments that were also covered to make sure the healing would take place without infections. The day of the surgery he said, "oh by the way, your insurance is not going to pay for the extractions!" What, I said. They covered the Hyperberic treatments that cost $40K, but they will not cover the extractions. He said he fought with the insurance(Medicare, and med part B? We had to cough up $1600.00 that minute to go ahead with the surgery. We then were told he may have to extract some more, and then again later, he said all of them!? So now here we are with 20 more teeth to come out in two different stages, the cost will be, with no complications, another $4K!! Radiaiton is a medical procedure which caused my teeth to crack, flake, break off, and decay. The Hyperberic was covered($40K) for the Dental peocedure, so why isn't the oral surgery covered?? This is obsurd, and expensive since I am on a fixed income of disability and Soc. Security!! After all is said and done, the Orthodontist wants $8K to replace my teeth with dentures?!!!!I can not afford this all at once, and they want half of the money up front with the other half when finished in 4-6 weeks!!!?? I just maybe will be without any teeth for some time. I have gone thru enough, and now I will not be able to chew my food or enjoy the rest of my pitiful life that has already been a chambles with no voice box, and not having a quality life what so ever!! Anybody know of anyone who can answer these questions, or advise me of what I can do????? 

     

  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,722 Member

    Radiation caused my teeth to crumble away.

    I have had so much radiation from fighting cancer for 20 years that my Saliva glands were fried, as well as my Thyroid gland. My Oral Surgeon said he needed to remove some of my teeth, even the $10K beautiful porcelin crowns that I had done in 2006, post radiation, may have to come out?. The surgeon said the extractions/surgery  was covered as was the 30 Hyperberic treatments that were also covered to make sure the healing would take place without infections. The day of the surgery he said, "oh by the way, your insurance is not going to pay for the extractions!" What, I said. They covered the Hyperberic treatments that cost $40K, but they will not cover the extractions. He said he fought with the insurance(Medicare, and med part B? We had to cough up $1600.00 that minute to go ahead with the surgery. We then were told he may have to extract some more, and then again later, he said all of them!? So now here we are with 20 more teeth to come out in two different stages, the cost will be, with no complications, another $4K!! Radiaiton is a medical procedure which caused my teeth to crack, flake, break off, and decay. The Hyperberic was covered($40K) for the Dental peocedure, so why isn't the oral surgery covered?? This is obsurd, and expensive since I am on a fixed income of disability and Soc. Security!! After all is said and done, the Orthodontist wants $8K to replace my teeth with dentures?!!!!I can not afford this all at once, and they want half of the money up front with the other half when finished in 4-6 weeks!!!?? I just maybe will be without any teeth for some time. I have gone thru enough, and now I will not be able to chew my food or enjoy the rest of my pitiful life that has already been a chambles with no voice box, and not having a quality life what so ever!! Anybody know of anyone who can answer these questions, or advise me of what I can do????? 

     

    start a new thread

    Jill,

     

    Welcome to the H&N forum. 

     

    Teeth are a big issue here and many share your predicament.

     

    You might have better luck getting a response to your questions by starting a new thread.  This one is 2 ½ years old and you can’t count on people reading your post.

     

    Good luck,

     

    Matt