FIRST DENTAL VISIT SINCE COMPLETING TREATMENT

luv4lacrosse
luv4lacrosse Member Posts: 1,410 Member
I had my first dental exam since completing treatment on Oct. 20. All seems to look real good. I have 1-2 sensitive spots on my gums, but teeth look good and strong.

Curious to know if you have had dental issues, how far out past your treatment date did they occur. My dentist says from his experience he sees damage pretty soon after radiation stops???

BEST

Mike
«1

Comments

  • SASH
    SASH Member Posts: 421 Member
    Dental
    Mine were good for a year or two, then downhill. Before treatment, never had a cavity. They did remove 8 molars and 4 wisdom teeth preventatively before treatment. Only 1 wisdom tooth had a little decay and was impacted. Over the past few years I have had many cavities and 3 more have come out. An additional 2 are almost gone and the dentist wants to do root canals and crowns to try and keep them. I'm at the point just let me keep them until there is nothing left of them and then we will take them out.
  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    SASH said:

    Dental
    Mine were good for a year or two, then downhill. Before treatment, never had a cavity. They did remove 8 molars and 4 wisdom teeth preventatively before treatment. Only 1 wisdom tooth had a little decay and was impacted. Over the past few years I have had many cavities and 3 more have come out. An additional 2 are almost gone and the dentist wants to do root canals and crowns to try and keep them. I'm at the point just let me keep them until there is nothing left of them and then we will take them out.

    Teeth
    I had my three wisdom teeth (4th was never there ?? lol) and then the molars next to them pulled before rads. Only one of the wisdom teeth had issues and it was cracked. The rest were fine but had to go. I was pretty good from May till October then by the next appt it was really bad. They went down hill fast. I have been working on getting about every tooth filled. We are waiting to see if I am going to have to have root canals. (I am going broke now with 20 fillings. Root canal is going to wipe me out) Tooth 19 is very bad. He told me I won't be taking it to my grave. I don't have insurance for HBO treatments and the thought of having that tooth pulled without HBO treatments gets me into a sickening panic. My mouth is just so extremely dry. :(
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    Toothers
    So far similar to you...had three exams so far (six months apart).

    A few fillings (not unusual for me), and a crown from an old deteriorated set of fillings, (also not unusual for me)...

    John
  • ratface
    ratface Member Posts: 1,337 Member
    Skiffin16 said:

    Toothers
    So far similar to you...had three exams so far (six months apart).

    A few fillings (not unusual for me), and a crown from an old deteriorated set of fillings, (also not unusual for me)...

    John

    I'm a regular at the dentist
    I am currently having a problem with my #19 also. I've needed two root canals and one crown since treatment, appx 18 months ago. #19 has to be extracted because the root canal on it has failed and it keeps abcessing. The plan is to gently lift it out over a 4-6 week period using a spring/wire contraption. I've had two fittings for the contraption and schedule for installation next week. I'm a regular there.
  • CrimsonRacing
    CrimsonRacing Member Posts: 27 Member
    ratface said:

    I'm a regular at the dentist
    I am currently having a problem with my #19 also. I've needed two root canals and one crown since treatment, appx 18 months ago. #19 has to be extracted because the root canal on it has failed and it keeps abcessing. The plan is to gently lift it out over a 4-6 week period using a spring/wire contraption. I've had two fittings for the contraption and schedule for installation next week. I'm a regular there.

    teeth
    I had all my teeth remove prior to Rad and Chemo because of the research I did,I knew it was not gonna be a good thing in the long run.Because of the way I treated my teeth as a young man they were not in the best of shape....Right now,I am waiting to get the swallowing thing to improve so I can have the final adjustment to my dentures and begin wearing them again.

    Richard
  • luv4lacrosse
    luv4lacrosse Member Posts: 1,410 Member

    teeth
    I had all my teeth remove prior to Rad and Chemo because of the research I did,I knew it was not gonna be a good thing in the long run.Because of the way I treated my teeth as a young man they were not in the best of shape....Right now,I am waiting to get the swallowing thing to improve so I can have the final adjustment to my dentures and begin wearing them again.

    Richard

    GOOD OR BAD TEETH BEFORE TREATMENT
    I guess now I want to drill down a little further.

    Did all of you have good or bad teeth / dental issues before treatment??

    Me, I had great teeth with twice annually visits to the dentist sinch childhood.

    Mike
  • miccmill
    miccmill Member Posts: 248

    GOOD OR BAD TEETH BEFORE TREATMENT
    I guess now I want to drill down a little further.

    Did all of you have good or bad teeth / dental issues before treatment??

    Me, I had great teeth with twice annually visits to the dentist sinch childhood.

    Mike

    Bad Teeth here
    Glenn had bad teeth plus gingivitis so they were all removed (28 extractions).

    He's 6.5 months post radiation and is in his 2nd week with dentures. They did not clear him for dentures until he was 6 months out of treatment.

    Big adjustment but he looks great.

    He's been busy test driving them at Dennys everyday last week and this week.

    Lisa
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member

    GOOD OR BAD TEETH BEFORE TREATMENT
    I guess now I want to drill down a little further.

    Did all of you have good or bad teeth / dental issues before treatment??

    Me, I had great teeth with twice annually visits to the dentist sinch childhood.

    Mike

    In Between
    Sorry, I know...don't mean to be one of those, LOL...

    My teeth weren't great, I've always had a lot of fillings since childhood. In that being done, it seems they only last ten years or so before the start deteriorating and have to be drilled more, with larger fillings. Eventually that has started leading to one root canal and and two crowns. One crown before treatment, the other after....

    JG
  • Scambuster
    Scambuster Member Posts: 973
    Skiffin16 said:

    In Between
    Sorry, I know...don't mean to be one of those, LOL...

    My teeth weren't great, I've always had a lot of fillings since childhood. In that being done, it seems they only last ten years or so before the start deteriorating and have to be drilled more, with larger fillings. Eventually that has started leading to one root canal and and two crowns. One crown before treatment, the other after....

    JG

    Dental Convention
    Funny, last night I was at a drinks night with a bunch of Dentists visiting on a convention. I pinned a couple and asked about Oncologal Dentistry. Of course they sucked air through their teeth and shook their heads sadly and started to tell me about the problems: Xerostomia, teeth erosion, jaw damage, etc.

    I then told then I was a survivor. They were a little embarrassed that they had made the situation seem very grave but then one of them pulled out a tube of GC Mousse from his pocket and said "This is the stuff you need". He also had some lozenges from the same company and said that you can only get these products through your Dentist in Australia.

    The stuff is made in Japan which is where I am this week and you can buy this stuff at the drug store or local 7/11. I will be loading up. I have been using it for over year and it's great. Apply at night. Protect yr teeth from erosion due to lack of saliva. So far my teething are doing great.

    Here is a good link which tells you all about it.

    http://www.gcindiadental.com/images/documents/tooth_mousse_portfolio.pdf

    Regds
    Scam
  • Kent Cass
    Kent Cass Member Posts: 1,898 Member

    Dental Convention
    Funny, last night I was at a drinks night with a bunch of Dentists visiting on a convention. I pinned a couple and asked about Oncologal Dentistry. Of course they sucked air through their teeth and shook their heads sadly and started to tell me about the problems: Xerostomia, teeth erosion, jaw damage, etc.

    I then told then I was a survivor. They were a little embarrassed that they had made the situation seem very grave but then one of them pulled out a tube of GC Mousse from his pocket and said "This is the stuff you need". He also had some lozenges from the same company and said that you can only get these products through your Dentist in Australia.

    The stuff is made in Japan which is where I am this week and you can buy this stuff at the drug store or local 7/11. I will be loading up. I have been using it for over year and it's great. Apply at night. Protect yr teeth from erosion due to lack of saliva. So far my teething are doing great.

    Here is a good link which tells you all about it.

    http://www.gcindiadental.com/images/documents/tooth_mousse_portfolio.pdf

    Regds
    Scam

    teeth
    One root canal and two Crowns since treatment ended, with two more Crowns in the near-future. Main issue, though, is the erosion- have lost the tops off all my teeth, and top two front teeth had chips and a vertical crack in each before they were rebuilt. Thing that is kinda scary about it all- my teeth are getting so short that if I ever do have to get them pulled- will definitely take surgery, as there's getting to be very little to actually be able to take hold of to pull them. Times I look at them and wished I had them all pulled before treatment began.

    kcass
  • Jimbo55
    Jimbo55 Member Posts: 590 Member

    Dental Convention
    Funny, last night I was at a drinks night with a bunch of Dentists visiting on a convention. I pinned a couple and asked about Oncologal Dentistry. Of course they sucked air through their teeth and shook their heads sadly and started to tell me about the problems: Xerostomia, teeth erosion, jaw damage, etc.

    I then told then I was a survivor. They were a little embarrassed that they had made the situation seem very grave but then one of them pulled out a tube of GC Mousse from his pocket and said "This is the stuff you need". He also had some lozenges from the same company and said that you can only get these products through your Dentist in Australia.

    The stuff is made in Japan which is where I am this week and you can buy this stuff at the drug store or local 7/11. I will be loading up. I have been using it for over year and it's great. Apply at night. Protect yr teeth from erosion due to lack of saliva. So far my teething are doing great.

    Here is a good link which tells you all about it.

    http://www.gcindiadental.com/images/documents/tooth_mousse_portfolio.pdf

    Regds
    Scam

    Scam
    Hi Scam, I've located a source for the GC tooth mousse in Bangkok and will give it a try. Do you use it in conjunction with the flouride trays or in place of them? Cheers

    Jimbo
  • buzz99
    buzz99 Member Posts: 404
    Teeth
    Reading these posts inspires me to nag Buzz about his fluoride trays. He has skipped several applications due to mouth soreness but magic mw befoe using them helps. He had sub-average teeth prior to treatment. When can a cleaning be tolerated. He is almost 5 weeks post treatment.
  • Greg53
    Greg53 Member Posts: 849
    buzz99 said:

    Teeth
    Reading these posts inspires me to nag Buzz about his fluoride trays. He has skipped several applications due to mouth soreness but magic mw befoe using them helps. He had sub-average teeth prior to treatment. When can a cleaning be tolerated. He is almost 5 weeks post treatment.

    Nervous about dental care
    Hey Mike,

    I never had a cavity in my life. Now I brush and floss 5 times a day, but still think my teeth are getting bad. I have the fouride trays but only use them a couple times a week as the stuff I use burns the heck out of my mouth. I'll need to check out the info Scam posted here. Have my 2nd dentist appointment next week since tx ended. I now get nervous going to dentist just like I do when I go get scoped just due to the stories I hear about all the teeth issues everyone has. Plus it seems I'm at that point (10 months out) where dental problems start up.

    Hang in there Bro'!

    Greg
  • MarineE5
    MarineE5 Member Posts: 1,030 Member
    buzz99 said:

    Teeth
    Reading these posts inspires me to nag Buzz about his fluoride trays. He has skipped several applications due to mouth soreness but magic mw befoe using them helps. He had sub-average teeth prior to treatment. When can a cleaning be tolerated. He is almost 5 weeks post treatment.

    Hold off a bit
    Buzz,

    Hold off a bit on getting Buzz to the Dentist to have his teeth cleaned. Something I just learned from a VA Dentist. He recommended that no matter where I go to have my teeth cleaned, plac removed, to not allow the person cleaning my teeth to use the gritty paste that they use to whitten our teeth. He said that the rotating brush with the gritty paste actually removes any enamel we still have on our teeth.

    Yes, Buzz needs to use the Flouride trays daily, and I know at times there can be some discomfort. When I ran into that problem, I used my finger to rub some Flouride around my teeth until my gums calmed down. My gums would act up when ever I ate something a bit harder then what I would normally eat. If I tried eating a salad with croutons, the next day or so, my gums were sore, so I don't do that anymore.

    My Best to Both of You and Everyone Here
  • sabriene
    sabriene Member Posts: 28
    Teeth
    Hi Mike:

    Mike at the onset this was a tough decision in my situation. I had kept my teeth in excellent shape prior to the disease. Rad. doctor wanted all teeth removed prior to treatment apparently due to the severe treatment down the road. Tell you the truth that item wasn't what I had in mind. Dentist sent me to the oral surgeon for dentist felt there could be a healing time problem. Oral surgeon agree take to long for mouth to heal and he needs to start treatment now. Make a long story short I was like many others approximately a year after treatment the crowns started coming loose, then an expensive bridge, and to follow were some root canals then quite a few new crowns on what teeth I have left. Yes the nice part of it all I still have enough teeth to chew and thankful for that part. However, it has all been very costly out of pocket expense for me. I am kind of glad on one hand it worked out this way for me for recently I learned some with dentures have a difficult time keeping them in with eating. We hope in your situation it hasn't effected your sal. glands like mind. My last treatment was June 06 and today still cannot do well eating much of any meat which I use to really enjoy. However, one can live w/out it very well for I seem to have adjusted. Like I tell people yes we seem to be able to kill the bad cells and keep us alive but it sure does take a toe on ones quality of life.

    Mike, my suggestion is just to watch them very closely for one sure doesn't want to let one get infected for then that can result in very serious problems. If you recall I believe that may what happen to Bobby Hamilton the Nascar driver.

    We all wish you the best and do watch the teeth.

    Roger
  • MarineE5
    MarineE5 Member Posts: 1,030 Member

    GOOD OR BAD TEETH BEFORE TREATMENT
    I guess now I want to drill down a little further.

    Did all of you have good or bad teeth / dental issues before treatment??

    Me, I had great teeth with twice annually visits to the dentist sinch childhood.

    Mike

    Borderline
    Mike,

    I was on the border of having all my teeth removed or trying to keep what I had. The cancer Dentist stated that I would need to do the flouride trays daily for the rest of my life or wear dentures in the future.

    I chose to keep my remaining teeth and he was happy I decided to do so. I do use the trays daily, and have recently been using the PreviDent 5000 gel when I brush that has the flouride in it. I have put the trays away for now, but I can fall back on them if I feel the Flouride gel isn't doing it's job as good as the Flouride in the trays. Either way, I maintain a daily routine.

    To answer your question, I am 6 years out of treatment and I had 2 teeth capped, but that was due to me trying to eat some hard candy once and my teeth cracked. I had 1 tiny cavity filled and it was so small, that I didn't need any novocaine to numb the area.

    My Best to You and Everyone Here
  • luv4lacrosse
    luv4lacrosse Member Posts: 1,410 Member
    MarineE5 said:

    Borderline
    Mike,

    I was on the border of having all my teeth removed or trying to keep what I had. The cancer Dentist stated that I would need to do the flouride trays daily for the rest of my life or wear dentures in the future.

    I chose to keep my remaining teeth and he was happy I decided to do so. I do use the trays daily, and have recently been using the PreviDent 5000 gel when I brush that has the flouride in it. I have put the trays away for now, but I can fall back on them if I feel the Flouride gel isn't doing it's job as good as the Flouride in the trays. Either way, I maintain a daily routine.

    To answer your question, I am 6 years out of treatment and I had 2 teeth capped, but that was due to me trying to eat some hard candy once and my teeth cracked. I had 1 tiny cavity filled and it was so small, that I didn't need any novocaine to numb the area.

    My Best to You and Everyone Here

    WE SOUND SIMILLAR
    I also use the Prevadent tooth paste and a Phillips Sonicare brush. I think upgrading to this brush has really helped me. My docs have not considered flouride trays for me. At least not yet. I now will visit my Dentist every 90 days VS every 6 Mos.

    Best of luck

    Mike
  • luv4lacrosse
    luv4lacrosse Member Posts: 1,410 Member
    Greg53 said:

    Nervous about dental care
    Hey Mike,

    I never had a cavity in my life. Now I brush and floss 5 times a day, but still think my teeth are getting bad. I have the fouride trays but only use them a couple times a week as the stuff I use burns the heck out of my mouth. I'll need to check out the info Scam posted here. Have my 2nd dentist appointment next week since tx ended. I now get nervous going to dentist just like I do when I go get scoped just due to the stories I hear about all the teeth issues everyone has. Plus it seems I'm at that point (10 months out) where dental problems start up.

    Hang in there Bro'!

    Greg

    NERVOUS TOO
    I was very nervous yesterday before the cleaning. Actually I only had 2 very small spots where my gum or tooth right at the gum line was senitive. My dentist told me from his experience, he usually sees damage from radiation fairly quickly. He said upon exam, my teeth looked great. I then also reminded him of our little nuclear gift that keeps on giving.

    On the flipside, how the hell are ya??

    Mike
  • luv4lacrosse
    luv4lacrosse Member Posts: 1,410 Member
    sabriene said:

    Teeth
    Hi Mike:

    Mike at the onset this was a tough decision in my situation. I had kept my teeth in excellent shape prior to the disease. Rad. doctor wanted all teeth removed prior to treatment apparently due to the severe treatment down the road. Tell you the truth that item wasn't what I had in mind. Dentist sent me to the oral surgeon for dentist felt there could be a healing time problem. Oral surgeon agree take to long for mouth to heal and he needs to start treatment now. Make a long story short I was like many others approximately a year after treatment the crowns started coming loose, then an expensive bridge, and to follow were some root canals then quite a few new crowns on what teeth I have left. Yes the nice part of it all I still have enough teeth to chew and thankful for that part. However, it has all been very costly out of pocket expense for me. I am kind of glad on one hand it worked out this way for me for recently I learned some with dentures have a difficult time keeping them in with eating. We hope in your situation it hasn't effected your sal. glands like mind. My last treatment was June 06 and today still cannot do well eating much of any meat which I use to really enjoy. However, one can live w/out it very well for I seem to have adjusted. Like I tell people yes we seem to be able to kill the bad cells and keep us alive but it sure does take a toe on ones quality of life.

    Mike, my suggestion is just to watch them very closely for one sure doesn't want to let one get infected for then that can result in very serious problems. If you recall I believe that may what happen to Bobby Hamilton the Nascar driver.

    We all wish you the best and do watch the teeth.

    Roger

    TEETH
    Thanks for the reply. I have dental visits every 90 days going forward. I guess I will have to adress the issues in the future if they happen. Kind of sounds like they will happen eventually.

    I too have no saliva, and have only been out of treatment since Oct. 20th. I do not know if it is too soon to tell if my saliva glands are shot for good, or more time will be needed to see if they do produce saliva again.

    Best!!

    Mike
  • Ed_PortOrange
    Ed_PortOrange Member Posts: 110
    Met with Cancer Dentist Yesterday Also
    I had my second post treatment visit with the Cancer dentist at Shands Cancer Ctr. here in Florida yesterday. We also met prior to the start of rads and chemo and the joint decision was to leave my teeth as is, even though my molars had several amalgam fillings and I had a partial plate on top. From day 1 she has emphasized the use of floride trays on a daily basis. I have followed those guidelines for the past eleven months and she felt that is the key to reduced problems in the future. That along with regular visits to my own dentist for periodic cleanings.

    I currently use Prevident 1.1% sodium floride which is prescribed but she said that the over the counter product Gelcam also works. The down side of the otc is that some people feel it stains their teeth.

    Keep a smile through it all,

    Ed