Jaw problems after extensive radiation treatment

johnlax38 said:

Mav,
I have the same
Mav,

I have the same problem. My dental surgeon and my oncologist gave me exercises to do with my jaw which include stretching. It hurts but it helps. I can barely get three fingers in my mouth, when held vertically. Doc's told me average person can get 3-4 vertical fingers in their mouth. What he has is to be expected, he needs to push his doctors for informaiton as to how to stretch his jaw. I am 4-5mo post rads and I have to stretch every day or I can't even put a spoon of cereal in my mouth.

johnlax38 said:

Mav,
I have the same
Mav,

I have the same problem. My dental surgeon and my oncologist gave me exercises to do with my jaw which include stretching. It hurts but it helps. I can barely get three fingers in my mouth, when held vertically. Doc's told me average person can get 3-4 vertical fingers in their mouth. What he has is to be expected, he needs to push his doctors for informaiton as to how to stretch his jaw. I am 4-5mo post rads and I have to stretch every day or I can't even put a spoon of cereal in my mouth.

MJ70 said:

Your jaw problem ...
You should ask your Head and Neck surgeon to check out if you have osteo-radio-necrosist of the Jaw Bone...I did after five years......In our terms it means the radiation killed the circulation of the jaw bone..Its a big deal and needs a surgeon who does this type of surgery...I had my jaw bone replaced with my fibula from right leg.. fibulas are like tonsils or appendics .... we don't need them..I put mine off as long as i could but had to have it done after it got infected.. took twelve hours in the OR and six days in the Hospital... Things are great now but you should check it out...Mel

MJ70 said:

Your jaw problem ...
You should ask your Head and Neck surgeon to check out if you have osteo-radio-necrosist of the Jaw Bone...I did after five years......In our terms it means the radiation killed the circulation of the jaw bone..Its a big deal and needs a surgeon who does this type of surgery...I had my jaw bone replaced with my fibula from right leg.. fibulas are like tonsils or appendics .... we don't need them..I put mine off as long as i could but had to have it done after it got infected.. took twelve hours in the OR and six days in the Hospital... Things are great now but you should check it out...Mel

NPCPaul said:

jaw and neck excercises
stretching is key. Goto to the physical therapist and they will provide techniques to stretch and massage and push they body fluids away from the tightness areas. My ENT also advised me to to stretching exercise often. One good tip was to do a set of stretching every time you see a commercial when you are watching tv.

Hondo said:

Hi Paul

Yes I know about the cramps I too get them if I overdo it, or reach just one place when trying to stretch. The key for me it to go easy and remember everything there is like bacon if you pull it too had it will brake and become tuffer.

Do you use a jaw device to work with if so what one are you using. I did the threbite and now I am using a Dynasplint, the Dynasplint is a lot easier to use but cost a lot.

Wishing you well
Hondo

madison7133 said:

Jaw Problems
After recently addressing extensive dental issues, both my dentist and oral surgeon are concerned the problems are a result of extensive radiation treatments I received following a modified radical neck dissection. Here’s the kicker – I was 19 years old while a freshman in college when I had the cancer/surgery; I am 51 now – it was 32 years ago. I’d had metastatic lymphoma that spread from my left sub maxillary salivary gland – which was removed as well.
In addition to the ongoing tooth loss, there are two areas where necrotic bone is “floating” through the gum. It is happening in areas where there has been no tooth loss and the doctors are flummoxed except to theorize it is coming from my mandible because of the past radiation treatments – luckily, I’d had no chemo. I have no jaw pain or problems opening my mouth. During the surgery in 1980, I required transfusions contracting HCV (Hepatitis C). It wasn’t until 2005 that this was discovered and I underwent the standard chemotherapy which I’m happy to say was successful. However, it was immediately following that treatment I started with the dental issues. I’d had no problems with my teeth before.
While I can’t pin this to any one event, I was left with the typical “dry mouth” after the surgery, which in itself could cause these problems or the timing from the HCV chemo. Does this sound familiar to anyone? The expense to correct this will be enormous as it is not covered by insurance and a waste of time/money if there are blood supply problems to the jaw. Any ideas on how to proceed would be appreciated…

madison7133 said:

Jaw Problems
After recently addressing extensive dental issues, both my dentist and oral surgeon are concerned the problems are a result of extensive radiation treatments I received following a modified radical neck dissection. Here’s the kicker – I was 19 years old while a freshman in college when I had the cancer/surgery; I am 51 now – it was 32 years ago. I’d had metastatic lymphoma that spread from my left sub maxillary salivary gland – which was removed as well.
In addition to the ongoing tooth loss, there are two areas where necrotic bone is “floating” through the gum. It is happening in areas where there has been no tooth loss and the doctors are flummoxed except to theorize it is coming from my mandible because of the past radiation treatments – luckily, I’d had no chemo. I have no jaw pain or problems opening my mouth. During the surgery in 1980, I required transfusions contracting HCV (Hepatitis C). It wasn’t until 2005 that this was discovered and I underwent the standard chemotherapy which I’m happy to say was successful. However, it was immediately following that treatment I started with the dental issues. I’d had no problems with my teeth before.
While I can’t pin this to any one event, I was left with the typical “dry mouth” after the surgery, which in itself could cause these problems or the timing from the HCV chemo. Does this sound familiar to anyone? The expense to correct this will be enormous as it is not covered by insurance and a waste of time/money if there are blood supply problems to the jaw. Any ideas on how to proceed would be appreciated…

Hondo said:

Hi MAV899
Sorry to hear this I am in the same boat with your brother I can’t open my jaw no more then a ½ inch, I tried a lot of things all it did was to cause more problems then it helped. I heard about the hyper-barric Oxygen treatment but don’t know anyone who tried it yet, I also heard that acupuncture may help, but it needs to be disease management acupuncture and not pain management acupuncture, I have not found anyone who can do this yet, but I am planning on trying it.

Please let me know what you find out my e-mail address is on my post
Take care & God bless

What exactly transpired.  I had high dose rad7 years ago for throat cancer.  Al went well except last monday woke up and could open mouth no more than a1/2 inch.  No pain except if i trief to go past and pain would not allow.

Saw my general, he place me on antibiotics for sinus infection.  Pain anti inflamatory as well.  No improvement after three days said i should see my ent. They told me see tmj spevizlist, did that tmj specialist said not ymj. But ent shys away from dealing with limited motion, getti g a bad feeling about thix.

George_Baltimore said:

Mountainous terrain
You hit the nail on the head about the mountains. Is your husband on Medicare? Since 2009, I have had a total of 124 dives in the chamber. Medicare picked up 80%. All the rest was covered by my medi-gap insurance (BCBS). If you have medi-gap, you might want to inquire why they didn't cover the rest.

I had my first 80 done to try to help the rawness of my throat. My radiation was done in 2004. It helped some so I decided to do 40 more. When that didn't show any improvement, I stopped. In 2011, I developed mandible necrosis. I had replacement surgery in June of last year. The bone graft failed and they had to take it out. About two months later, they had to remove the titanium plate that they left in because a screw had worked loose. Now, I have a sort of swinging jaw. As far as I know, I am the only one currently on the board that the surgery didn't help. I too have lymphedema problems hence the compression mask.

I truly hope that the HBO treatments take care of your husband's necrosis problem. Good luck!

I had Hyberbaric treatment 5 months ago for removal of wisdom teeth. I had nasopharygeal cancer in 1999 and they did not remove my wisdom teeth before treatment. I started having jaw pain and my dentist recommended the chamber treatment. I have had pretty good luck with the outcome of the chamber treatment but recently my front of my jaw is going numb and my dentist put me on antibotics for infection in the wisdom tooth hole. Does anybody have any advice on this issue?