Zometa and jaw bone necrosis

alharkabus

Has anyone had any experience with ill effects from Zometa therapy? It is a drug that helps grow bone after cancer has spread to the bones. I have already lost a small piece of ny jawbone after I had a tooth pulled-the dentist did not know of this issue. Now I am faced with several other potential tooth removals and the fear of more jaw bone problems scares me a lot. Anyone else dealing with this?

Unknown

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TereB

I had radiation on my head/neck area years ago which damaged my teeth and jaw bone. When the teeth had to come out years later, luckily my dentist was aware there could be problems with my bone so he sent me to an oral surgeon who sent me to the oxigen chamber for 40 sessions. I had no problems with the bone at all, it didn't crumble which was what my dentist feared and the implants stayed on bone with no problem. They tell me the oxigen chamber treatment did the trick. The oxigen chamber is more or less like the one they use for divers.

3jays

Hi. I am experiencing jawbone pain due to similar circumstances such as you are experiencing. Have you had any success in managing the pain or rejuvenation of the bone? Have you had contact with other people who are suffering from similar circumstances such as yourself. Please let me know asap.

lfly

zometa and ONJ
Quite a few months ago I started having the same problem and looked on this site for answers or someone else that had this problem. Here you are. I had two teeth pulled a month apart by an oral surgeon recommended by my Onc. The zometa was stopped of course. The first extraction has still not healed and i believe it's going on a year now. The jaw bone is showing through and they have had me on penicillin for many months. They tell me it's not ONJ yet but it could become that if I don't take the antibiotic, posibly the rest of my life. I'm only 40 now. As of 2 weeks ago the pain in that area is just about to the point that i must call the surgeon again and find out what's next. I never heard of the oxygen chamber treatment before. Maybe i can ask about that. I know that a friend did that oxygen TX deal for an amputated leg and it helped him.

Thanks for the post and I'm grateful to be back on this site.

MLC53

lfly said:

zometa and ONJ
Quite a few months ago I started having the same problem and looked on this site for answers or someone else that had this problem. Here you are. I had two teeth pulled a month apart by an oral surgeon recommended by my Onc. The zometa was stopped of course. The first extraction has still not healed and i believe it's going on a year now. The jaw bone is showing through and they have had me on penicillin for many months. They tell me it's not ONJ yet but it could become that if I don't take the antibiotic, posibly the rest of my life. I'm only 40 now. As of 2 weeks ago the pain in that area is just about to the point that i must call the surgeon again and find out what's next. I never heard of the oxygen chamber treatment before. Maybe i can ask about that. I know that a friend did that oxygen TX deal for an amputated leg and it helped him.

Thanks for the post and I'm grateful to be back on this site.

HBO - Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment
I am a 16 month survivor of left tonsil cancer. Radiation to the head and neck area causes a decrease in the blood supply to the jaw bone as well. This causes a lot of problems when it comes to having any dental work done post treatments. My dentist says that it is always better to try and save a tooth, if possible, as opposed to extracting it. I just recently had a root canal done to save a tooth that broke in half. If a tooth needs to come out, one usually ends up seeing an oral surgeon for evaluation first. He will then let you know if you are a candidate for extractions, implants and HBO treatments. Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments increase the blood supply to the jaw bone and enables better and faster healing.

DIME08

TereB said:

I had radiation on my head/neck area years ago which damaged my teeth and jaw bone. When the teeth had to come out years later, luckily my dentist was aware there could be problems with my bone so he sent me to an oral surgeon who sent me to the oxigen chamber for 40 sessions. I had no problems with the bone at all, it didn't crumble which was what my dentist feared and the implants stayed on bone with no problem. They tell me the oxigen chamber treatment did the trick. The oxigen chamber is more or less like the one they use for divers.

OXYGEN THERAPY
Hi there TereB,

I hope that you are still part of this community as your post was made three years ago. I am interested to know about your 40 oxygen chamber sessions, whether they were done prior to dental work or after? How long were the individual sessions? I am asking on behalf of my mother who receives intravenous biphosphanates for metastatic breast cancer. One of the risks of this treatment is jaw necrosis which was only discovered after she had a tooth extraction. Although skin has healed over and she has no pain, the dental surgeon says that there is an infection underneath and that he has to scrape away more bone to find healthy tissue and permit regrowth. Having done research though we find that further problems could be the outcome ie enlarged area of exposed bone. Really confused as to what to do and don't really trust allopathic medcine at present as everything they are doing seems to be promoting other huge health problems (seems to be a big cover up when it comes to biphophonates). As she is not experiencing any problems at present we don't know whether to play a wait and watch game to do with further dental surgery. In the mean time I would like more info on hyperbaric oxygen chambers, especially the questions above. We live in the UK and there is not much info available about oxyegn treatment duration etc let alone referral. May not help healing but its worth a try. Hope all is well with you healthwise. Kind Regards, Diane Blackburn

DIME08

MLC53 said:

HBO - Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment
I am a 16 month survivor of left tonsil cancer. Radiation to the head and neck area causes a decrease in the blood supply to the jaw bone as well. This causes a lot of problems when it comes to having any dental work done post treatments. My dentist says that it is always better to try and save a tooth, if possible, as opposed to extracting it. I just recently had a root canal done to save a tooth that broke in half. If a tooth needs to come out, one usually ends up seeing an oral surgeon for evaluation first. He will then let you know if you are a candidate for extractions, implants and HBO treatments. Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments increase the blood supply to the jaw bone and enables better and faster healing.

HBO Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment
I just posted a question about HBO sessions but upon reading your post thought that maybe you might have some answers. With HBO to help healing with jaw bone necrosis, is it administered before or after dental surgery? Do you know the duration of sessions? Any ifo asap greatly appreciated as HBO has never been mentioned by my mother's dental surgeon and I don't think it is prescribed often in the UK. We would like to get her in as best shape as possible as she (like everyone) is going through quite a lot and we don't want an unnecessary surgical intervention to make things worse. Any info greatly appreciated.

michelemendoza

lfly said:

zometa and ONJ
Quite a few months ago I started having the same problem and looked on this site for answers or someone else that had this problem. Here you are. I had two teeth pulled a month apart by an oral surgeon recommended by my Onc. The zometa was stopped of course. The first extraction has still not healed and i believe it's going on a year now. The jaw bone is showing through and they have had me on penicillin for many months. They tell me it's not ONJ yet but it could become that if I don't take the antibiotic, posibly the rest of my life. I'm only 40 now. As of 2 weeks ago the pain in that area is just about to the point that i must call the surgeon again and find out what's next. I never heard of the oxygen chamber treatment before. Maybe i can ask about that. I know that a friend did that oxygen TX deal for an amputated leg and it helped him.

Thanks for the post and I'm grateful to be back on this site.

I AM GOING THROUGH THE SAME PROBLEM
I AM 44 AND I AM HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM EXCEPT I AM BATTLING STAGE 4 CANCER. DO YOU STILL HAVE EXPOSED BONE? OR DID IT HEAL? I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO BECAUSE I NEED TO STAY ON THE ZOMETA BECAUSE OF THE BONE CANCER. PLEASE REPLY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
ALOHA MICHELE