Tooth removed today POST radiation

wifeforlife

ok... so I went to the superthread! (which is AWESOME!!!) but i couldn't find a link for what I need.
My husband is post treatment. He has recieved 20 HBO treatments and will now have a tooth pulled. Then he will receive 10 more HBO treatments. What should I watch for? How will I know if he isn't going to heal?
Thanks for your continued support and dedication.
Wife

Hondo

Hi Wife
I am looking at doing the same thing and real soon so I will follow your port and see what happens.

All the best to you both
Hondo

sweetblood22

Hondo said:

Hi Wife
I am looking at doing the same thing and real soon so I will follow your port and see what happens.

All the best to you both
Hondo

Good subject for the Superthread. Thank you.
You are right that is something good to add to the Superthread. I have not been through it so I cannot really answer your question. I may have to have one pulled without the HBO. Just the thought makes me sick. From the limited discussion I had with my dentist you should heal up fine with having HBO treatments.

I will be watching for answers here as well.

wifeforlife

sweetblood22 said:

Good subject for the Superthread. Thank you.
You are right that is something good to add to the Superthread. I have not been through it so I cannot really answer your question. I may have to have one pulled without the HBO. Just the thought makes me sick. From the limited discussion I had with my dentist you should heal up fine with having HBO treatments.

I will be watching for answers here as well.

Update.
I will share a few details because this could affect many.
It bagan with a root canal many years ago. The tooth has recently become infected. We went to a specialist to have another root canal on the tooth, it couldn't be done. He is not in pain at this time but there is still infection under the tooth. The infection can cause Osteonecrosis of the Jaw the same as removal of the tooth can ... so it is really a no win here... except by removing the tooth you will clear up the infection if all goes well. We then went to an oral surgeon who agreed with the others and we scheduled a meeting with the Pulminary Dr. (this is who orders the HBO treatments) He took 20 HBO treatments (two hours a day) had the tooth removed today (that was easy ) and will begin taking 10 more HBO treatments tomorrow.
We also touched base with the Radiation Oncologist (just because my husband likes him so much!)

A few notes:
The fact that he has been dealing with an ongoing infection and hasn't developed any lesions is a good sign that he won't have a problem.

The HBO treatments degrease his chances of having a problem

The newer readiation technics lower the risk of a problem.

We have dont everything we can to get a positive outcome... now we just wait. and PRAY.

Clean mouth is important: brush and rinse after intake of anything.

I'll post updates.
Wife

abbimom

hello
Went through the same thing this summer. I had my wisdom teeth removed. I had to go back and see the dentist every couple of weeks so he could see the progress or if there were any problems. Mine healed but I have pockets where my teeth used to be. Just stay on top of it and if you feel there is something wrong go see the dentist. One tooth took longer to heal than the others but it eventually did. I do not miss HBO treatments. So expensive and time consuming. Thank God insurance made a mistake on mine in my favor.
Good luck
Linda

fisrpotpe

wifeforlife said:

Update.
I will share a few details because this could affect many.
It bagan with a root canal many years ago. The tooth has recently become infected. We went to a specialist to have another root canal on the tooth, it couldn't be done. He is not in pain at this time but there is still infection under the tooth. The infection can cause Osteonecrosis of the Jaw the same as removal of the tooth can ... so it is really a no win here... except by removing the tooth you will clear up the infection if all goes well. We then went to an oral surgeon who agreed with the others and we scheduled a meeting with the Pulminary Dr. (this is who orders the HBO treatments) He took 20 HBO treatments (two hours a day) had the tooth removed today (that was easy ) and will begin taking 10 more HBO treatments tomorrow.
We also touched base with the Radiation Oncologist (just because my husband likes him so much!)

A few notes:
The fact that he has been dealing with an ongoing infection and hasn't developed any lesions is a good sign that he won't have a problem.

The HBO treatments degrease his chances of having a problem

The newer readiation technics lower the risk of a problem.

We have dont everything we can to get a positive outcome... now we just wait. and PRAY.

Clean mouth is important: brush and rinse after intake of anything.

I'll post updates.
Wife

My Experience
18 months ago I had to have two teeth removed. I was treated for 30 days with anti biotic and had a special rinse they gave me with a couple small surringes to rinse the two pot holes out. I was told to rinse with water after any food as this would be the most important. The risk if the infection did not go away was Osteonecrosis of the Jaw. If that happened they would have to remove the jaw bone area and replace.

Healing is extremely slow. At 15 months my pot holes were still not healed over the exposed jaw bone. They keep reminding me the healing is slow but good news is they is no infection and is not very tender. About 10 months ago I purchased a water pic for rinsing and cleaning since most of the soreness was gone. This has been the best addition to my many times a day teeth rotine.

Keep all your teeth clean all the time and rinse the the potholes after any foods.

The only way you will know if the healing is going well is by your oral surgeon review and your dentist observation.

Good luck to everyone with post radiation teeth extractions.

John

Kent Cass

abbimom said:

hello
Went through the same thing this summer. I had my wisdom teeth removed. I had to go back and see the dentist every couple of weeks so he could see the progress or if there were any problems. Mine healed but I have pockets where my teeth used to be. Just stay on top of it and if you feel there is something wrong go see the dentist. One tooth took longer to heal than the others but it eventually did. I do not miss HBO treatments. So expensive and time consuming. Thank God insurance made a mistake on mine in my favor.
Good luck
Linda

Caution
Had an experience like this a couple months after my last rad. Dentist sent me an extraction place to get a tooth pulled. Was in the chair when the Surgeon called my rad Dr. She nixed it! Said that because of the chemo and rads I could have problems with it developing infection, or Dry Socket. Rad Dr. then called my Dentist and chewed him out for not finding the problem in the pre-treatment exam! Ended-up getting a root canal, which was a treat- but a better treat than Dry Socket would be. Please be advised.

kcass

sweetblood22

fisrpotpe said:

My Experience
18 months ago I had to have two teeth removed. I was treated for 30 days with anti biotic and had a special rinse they gave me with a couple small surringes to rinse the two pot holes out. I was told to rinse with water after any food as this would be the most important. The risk if the infection did not go away was Osteonecrosis of the Jaw. If that happened they would have to remove the jaw bone area and replace.

Healing is extremely slow. At 15 months my pot holes were still not healed over the exposed jaw bone. They keep reminding me the healing is slow but good news is they is no infection and is not very tender. About 10 months ago I purchased a water pic for rinsing and cleaning since most of the soreness was gone. This has been the best addition to my many times a day teeth rotine.

Keep all your teeth clean all the time and rinse the the potholes after any foods.

The only way you will know if the healing is going well is by your oral surgeon review and your dentist observation.

Good luck to everyone with post radiation teeth extractions.

John

John
You did not have HBO treatments? I have no insurance and I would not be able to have them.

fisrpotpe

sweetblood22 said:

John
You did not have HBO treatments? I have no insurance and I would not be able to have them.

Sweetblood
No I did not!

My doctors back in 96 were so against HBO because they felt it stimulated any cancer that might be hanging out. My history was clean for 12 years until I had infection on my pharnyx and had to have HBO 40 treatments. Prior to treatments we(doctor team, wife and I)discussed this and almost argued. Well what was said is I had to take the risk to get the reward. 5 months later we found a spot on tongue, gee I wonder why. Surgery to remove and have had no problems with any other we can find, that was two years early Feb.

I am not in favor at all with HBO. In my case the risk was worth the reward of vocal cords.

John

sweetblood22

fisrpotpe said:

Sweetblood
No I did not!

My doctors back in 96 were so against HBO because they felt it stimulated any cancer that might be hanging out. My history was clean for 12 years until I had infection on my pharnyx and had to have HBO 40 treatments. Prior to treatments we(doctor team, wife and I)discussed this and almost argued. Well what was said is I had to take the risk to get the reward. 5 months later we found a spot on tongue, gee I wonder why. Surgery to remove and have had no problems with any other we can find, that was two years early Feb.

I am not in favor at all with HBO. In my case the risk was worth the reward of vocal cords.

John

Wow!
Thank you for the quick response, John. I have heard people talk about the increased risk of cancer and HBO treatments. I don't know enough about it all to have an opinion. Definitely need to read up on all this. Thanks again.

fisrpotpe

Kent Cass said:

Caution
Had an experience like this a couple months after my last rad. Dentist sent me an extraction place to get a tooth pulled. Was in the chair when the Surgeon called my rad Dr. She nixed it! Said that because of the chemo and rads I could have problems with it developing infection, or Dry Socket. Rad Dr. then called my Dentist and chewed him out for not finding the problem in the pre-treatment exam! Ended-up getting a root canal, which was a treat- but a better treat than Dry Socket would be. Please be advised.

kcass

Caution X 2
When dealing with teeth you should have Dentist and oral surgeons who have had a lot of experience with Radiation and Chemo.

To me this is a must. Check out Dental schools as most will have this experience.

John

wifeforlife

fisrpotpe said:

Caution X 2
When dealing with teeth you should have Dentist and oral surgeons who have had a lot of experience with Radiation and Chemo.

To me this is a must. Check out Dental schools as most will have this experience.

John

tough decision
we did not have the option of a root canal. Our only option was removal of tooth. These decisions are so scary... we felt that the HBO treatments were our best option. We spoke with our ENT, Rad Dr., Dentist, entodontist, and oral surgeon all agreed this was the best option... If cancer comes back I can't feel that this was the wrong decision... we made the decision we had to in order to keep his jaw.
We are praying for healing.
Wife

sweetblood22

wifeforlife said:

tough decision
we did not have the option of a root canal. Our only option was removal of tooth. These decisions are so scary... we felt that the HBO treatments were our best option. We spoke with our ENT, Rad Dr., Dentist, entodontist, and oral surgeon all agreed this was the best option... If cancer comes back I can't feel that this was the wrong decision... we made the decision we had to in order to keep his jaw.
We are praying for healing.
Wife

Tough decision
Absolutely. Sometimes this crap is enough to make you crazy. I am glad you guys are comfortable with your decisions. That is so important.

I will pray for healing for him too.

Hondo

fisrpotpe said:

Sweetblood
No I did not!

My doctors back in 96 were so against HBO because they felt it stimulated any cancer that might be hanging out. My history was clean for 12 years until I had infection on my pharnyx and had to have HBO 40 treatments. Prior to treatments we(doctor team, wife and I)discussed this and almost argued. Well what was said is I had to take the risk to get the reward. 5 months later we found a spot on tongue, gee I wonder why. Surgery to remove and have had no problems with any other we can find, that was two years early Feb.

I am not in favor at all with HBO. In my case the risk was worth the reward of vocal cords.

John

Hi John

That is remarkable that you had teeth pulled with no HBO. I am looking at having to do this but think I will question my Dr about it first, my big problem is that I had Radiation twice to the head and might not heal even with the HBO.

Take care
Hondo

wifeforlife

sweetblood22 said:

Tough decision
Absolutely. Sometimes this crap is enough to make you crazy. I am glad you guys are comfortable with your decisions. That is so important.

I will pray for healing for him too.

so far
Well the tooth is gone. Dr looked at it today and so far the cavity (hole)is pink .... that is good... on antibiotics, anti-inflamatory. and mouth rinse... swelling is looking better today.. that's about it so far. Continuing to pray for healing.

fisrpotpe

wifeforlife said:

so far
Well the tooth is gone. Dr looked at it today and so far the cavity (hole)is pink .... that is good... on antibiotics, anti-inflamatory. and mouth rinse... swelling is looking better today.. that's about it so far. Continuing to pray for healing.

Good news!
Love the news that the pot hole is pink.

Not to be a nag but keep it clean as often as possible! If you think it is clean clean again.

Did they give you a surringe to help clean the pot hole? I hope so.

Another I recall is to use luke warm water. Cold is sensitive and Warm is sensitive.

Prayers going out!

backachedp

fisrpotpe said:

Good news!
Love the news that the pot hole is pink.

Not to be a nag but keep it clean as often as possible! If you think it is clean clean again.

Did they give you a surringe to help clean the pot hole? I hope so.

Another I recall is to use luke warm water. Cold is sensitive and Warm is sensitive.

Prayers going out!

I am glad I found this thread. Bob is going to the U of Mn Dental School as I and he do not like our Dentist..I belive he should have detected Bob's Cancer, but that's another story...Bob has to get 11 teeth extracted soon. He was seen last week and the week before he was schedueled to have the teeth extracted tomorrow. They had not even taken impressions. I called on Monday and spoke to the Student who was to do the extractions and asked him had he sent paper's to the Rad Dr...or had they spoken..??? He called back later Monday and told Bob she would not allow a Student to do the extractions. I am glad for that even though they are supervised by a Dentist...I had read many month;s ago about the HBO treatments and Bob's Dr's did not think it was nessasary. His teeth are literally loose and he is having much trouble still eating, esp. with the teeth issues and swallowing. I can't find the Superthread can anyone help me out on how to find it??? Also with Bob having to have so many teeth taken I am now worried when I read about the healing...I hope we made a good decsion on where he is having this done, but his Dr's are all at the University of MN and the Dental School is right there. Any help or info about healing or anything would be much appreaciated....and help me get to the Superthread...
Thanks to everyone here you all have been so kind and caring I wish I could do something in return...I do try and post when I think I can be of help to someone. Prayers to all for continued healing and for all who are just starting this journey.

Deb

fisrpotpe

backachedp said:

I am glad I found this thread. Bob is going to the U of Mn Dental School as I and he do not like our Dentist..I belive he should have detected Bob's Cancer, but that's another story...Bob has to get 11 teeth extracted soon. He was seen last week and the week before he was schedueled to have the teeth extracted tomorrow. They had not even taken impressions. I called on Monday and spoke to the Student who was to do the extractions and asked him had he sent paper's to the Rad Dr...or had they spoken..??? He called back later Monday and told Bob she would not allow a Student to do the extractions. I am glad for that even though they are supervised by a Dentist...I had read many month;s ago about the HBO treatments and Bob's Dr's did not think it was nessasary. His teeth are literally loose and he is having much trouble still eating, esp. with the teeth issues and swallowing. I can't find the Superthread can anyone help me out on how to find it??? Also with Bob having to have so many teeth taken I am now worried when I read about the healing...I hope we made a good decsion on where he is having this done, but his Dr's are all at the University of MN and the Dental School is right there. Any help or info about healing or anything would be much appreaciated....and help me get to the Superthread...
Thanks to everyone here you all have been so kind and caring I wish I could do something in return...I do try and post when I think I can be of help to someone. Prayers to all for continued healing and for all who are just starting this journey.

Deb

Give
Deb
my thought first and foremost is there is no way I would have an inexperienced person remove the teeth. I would suggest only an oral surgeon with radiation treatment experience.

Also if your looking at doing HBO I thought they do the treatments of 20 before extractions and 10 after.

Up to you but a dentist and oral surgeon should be working on Bob.

God luck

John

backachedp

fisrpotpe said:

Give
Deb
my thought first and foremost is there is no way I would have an inexperienced person remove the teeth. I would suggest only an oral surgeon with radiation treatment experience.

Also if your looking at doing HBO I thought they do the treatments of 20 before extractions and 10 after.

Up to you but a dentist and oral surgeon should be working on Bob.

God luck

John

Thank you
I agree...time is limited so we will have to figure this out quickly as his teeth are so bad they are so loose he said he could almost pull them out himself;( He has been getting Vicodin, but it just is not cutting the pain...it's so frustrating as he has enough trouble ating and after his last Apt. he said they hammered on all of his teeth and has only been able to eat soup's and oatmeal...when he was at the ENT yesterday he was in the room waiting for the Dr and a Woman came in and said "Hi I am a speech Therapist"..they told me you were drooling when you came in! He said lady I have lost my saliva glands I wish I could DROOL!..this Cancer just keep's on giving...but thankfully it is GONE. The after effect's are different for everyone and Bob has so much trouble eating..choking..they scope him and say all is well. He did loose his swallow during Treatment, so it is so important not to loose your swallow as I belive some of all the issues of eating etc are because of tgis..maybe I am wrong. He is working 20 hours a week now and it is kicking his Butt, but it is a start after not working for 18 months. Everyone here is so kind and helpful I so appreaciate that...it makes a person know they are not alone and so many have been thru the smae thing.

sweetblood22

backachedp said:

Thank you
I agree...time is limited so we will have to figure this out quickly as his teeth are so bad they are so loose he said he could almost pull them out himself;( He has been getting Vicodin, but it just is not cutting the pain...it's so frustrating as he has enough trouble ating and after his last Apt. he said they hammered on all of his teeth and has only been able to eat soup's and oatmeal...when he was at the ENT yesterday he was in the room waiting for the Dr and a Woman came in and said "Hi I am a speech Therapist"..they told me you were drooling when you came in! He said lady I have lost my saliva glands I wish I could DROOL!..this Cancer just keep's on giving...but thankfully it is GONE. The after effect's are different for everyone and Bob has so much trouble eating..choking..they scope him and say all is well. He did loose his swallow during Treatment, so it is so important not to loose your swallow as I belive some of all the issues of eating etc are because of tgis..maybe I am wrong. He is working 20 hours a week now and it is kicking his Butt, but it is a start after not working for 18 months. Everyone here is so kind and helpful I so appreaciate that...it makes a person know they are not alone and so many have been thru the smae thing.

Bob definitely wants to have
Bob definitely wants to have only an experienced oral surgeon or maybe dentist pull those teeth. My dentist had me go outside his hospital to some one he knew was the best when I had the ones pulled before radiation. The person he referred me to, my insurance would not cover it. I paid out of pocket because I knew if Dr. Halupa said that was where he felt I should go, and not his colleague in his own hospital, then that was a no brainer for me. Dr. Halupa is the only one who touches my teeth except for the lady who cleans them. He always comes in and checks them even when it's just a cleaning. He is the only one to drill them. He allows the ladies to fill them, but then he always checks their work. He has asked me if I would allow students to observe and learn because of all my issues. He does all the work. He was also the dentist on my tumor board.

I don't have any info about the teeth pulling after rads yet. It will be a while. I guess I got my first cold in over two years. I feel like crud.

The Superthread should be on the first page. It says:


HNC Superthread. A COLLECTION OF HELPFUL LINKS ONLY. (please post only informative links here) Help for some FAQ

ljoy

backachedp said:

Thank you
I agree...time is limited so we will have to figure this out quickly as his teeth are so bad they are so loose he said he could almost pull them out himself;( He has been getting Vicodin, but it just is not cutting the pain...it's so frustrating as he has enough trouble ating and after his last Apt. he said they hammered on all of his teeth and has only been able to eat soup's and oatmeal...when he was at the ENT yesterday he was in the room waiting for the Dr and a Woman came in and said "Hi I am a speech Therapist"..they told me you were drooling when you came in! He said lady I have lost my saliva glands I wish I could DROOL!..this Cancer just keep's on giving...but thankfully it is GONE. The after effect's are different for everyone and Bob has so much trouble eating..choking..they scope him and say all is well. He did loose his swallow during Treatment, so it is so important not to loose your swallow as I belive some of all the issues of eating etc are because of tgis..maybe I am wrong. He is working 20 hours a week now and it is kicking his Butt, but it is a start after not working for 18 months. Everyone here is so kind and helpful I so appreaciate that...it makes a person know they are not alone and so many have been thru the smae thing.

Loose Teeth
I had a tooth come loose this time last year. Thankfully had an oral surgeon who new the damage caused from radiation for tonsil cancer. Went to Hennepin county Medical Center for 40 HBO treatments before extraction of two teeth. It was definately worth the time to make sure the bone and tissue would heal after surgery. Since you mentioned you were at the U of MN I thought you might want to check out Hennnepin County Medical Center.

The teeth came loose because the blood supply is not suffient to keep the teeth alive. The bone is also damaged and needs to be debrieded (sp) in order to heal properly.

Hope all turns out well for you.