An easier fix for radiation scatter/burn off dental work?

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  • KareGiver
    KareGiver Member Posts: 301 Member
    #22
    timreichhart said:

    about mouth guard
    When I was fitted for my radiation mask they also fitted me for a mouth guard and that mouth guard was mounted to my mask and everyday I had radiation I had to bite down on that mouth guard.

    here is a picture of my mask: http://tinypic.com/r/11vmwc9/7

    My husband was fitted with
    My husband was fitted with "beautiful" lime green mouth guards that he wears and they put a stick in his mouth between them to keep his tongue down during radiation. This is in addition to the flouride trays that were made that he needs to use daily. Thanks for this info as he will have his 4th rad tomorrow. I sure hope he avoids some of the misery others have experienced because of these beauties...take care!
  • backachedp
    backachedp Member Posts: 132
    #23
    KareGiver said:

    My husband was fitted with
    My husband was fitted with "beautiful" lime green mouth guards that he wears and they put a stick in his mouth between them to keep his tongue down during radiation. This is in addition to the flouride trays that were made that he needs to use daily. Thanks for this info as he will have his 4th rad tomorrow. I sure hope he avoids some of the misery others have experienced because of these beauties...take care!

    Trays/mouth guards....
    My Husband never got them eighter and his mouth was a MESS...his worst pain was from sores and his tougne swelling etc....his teeth are so loose he can almost pull them out himself. Bob has another PET Scan tomorrow and we are praying all will be good again..except we are expcecting the spots to light up on his Lungs again...they Operated twice to Biopsy and both times Negetive...they all say it is Spores/Fungus from the Mississippi River causing it...we have a Cabin on the Mississippi in Brainerd MN....Bob asked do we need to sell the Cabin? They said no...Sure wish we would have known about these tray's....anyway thanks for the Info and hope everyone is enjoying this Sunday...and everday as much as they can. To all the Newbies...it is not a fun road, but you can do it..look at all the people who have come so far! Prayers and well wishes to all from us....
  • vgctrc
    vgctrc Member Posts: 1
    #24
    mouth guards/trays
    My fiance' is going through this same treatment...the radiation is scattering throughout the mouth especially hitting the side of the tongue...we brought in the trays made by his dentist in hopes of using them but we were told that it would not work due to the material from which was used to make them...soooo, needless to say, he has been using the wax and IT IS NOT WORKING!!! HOW did you convince your radiation doc to go with this and let you give it a try??? Also, along the thread was a person who had a mouth guard made within their mask...what material was used for the mouth guard???

    Thanks for any help you can give on this...I just cannot stand to watch someone in pain when there may be a solution!! Thanks again!! :)
  • Greend
    Greend Member Posts: 678
    #25
    Wish I'd known that
    Damned scatter burns were a real problem. Lesson for newbies.
  • daveinwoodland
    daveinwoodland Member Posts: 16
    #26
    For those nasty burns that
    For those nasty burns that you get from the scatter I finally found something that was able to treat them and heal them. My Dentist had found out about a product called Penzim gel. It's not designed for this specifically but I can tell you it healed a persistent burn spot I had for over two months in 4 days of application.
  • dmills8
    dmills8 Member Posts: 2
    #27
    daveinwoodland said:

    For those nasty burns that
    For those nasty burns that you get from the scatter I finally found something that was able to treat them and heal them. My Dentist had found out about a product called Penzim gel. It's not designed for this specifically but I can tell you it healed a persistent burn spot I had for over two months in 4 days of application.

    Penzim
    I need to have my rad doctor or dentist - call your dentist --- Would you tell us who it is?
  • hislove40
    hislove40 Member Posts: 51
    #28
    Scatter Guard or Wax

    I posted in a separate OLD post about this as I'm only 14 days in with this set of radiation, and I'm having a hard time sleeping due to sore throat and tongue, etc. They are telling me I shouldn't be so sore so soon, but I am....and I have 4 1/2 weeks to go.

    From these postings, I knew about radiation scatter and told them I needed something....so they gave me pink wax that I've been using for about 3-4 days. I have the flouride trays too that I use daily at home....but I didn't know I could use those. I'm not sure how I would fare with that mask and the trays though as I'm always gagging a little with the trays. Using the bottom one only may do the trick but I have amalgams in upper and lower. The rad doc said the pink wax had to be covering the outside of my teeth on the upper and lower, so it sounds like she thinks the scatter occurs on the outside as well.
  • hislove40
    hislove40 Member Posts: 51
    #29
    daveinwoodland said:

    For those nasty burns that
    For those nasty burns that you get from the scatter I finally found something that was able to treat them and heal them. My Dentist had found out about a product called Penzim gel. It's not designed for this specifically but I can tell you it healed a persistent burn spot I had for over two months in 4 days of application.

    I'm calling my dentist - thanks :)
    I appreciate this - going to see if my dentist knows what this is. Thanks so much!
  • dmills8
    dmills8 Member Posts: 2
    #30
    daveinwoodland said:

    For those nasty burns that
    For those nasty burns that you get from the scatter I finally found something that was able to treat them and heal them. My Dentist had found out about a product called Penzim gel. It's not designed for this specifically but I can tell you it healed a persistent burn spot I had for over two months in 4 days of application.

    Davidinthewoods please
    Davidinthewoods please tell us how your dentist usefd PENZIM. on your sores.
  • BeagleBon
    BeagleBon Member Posts: 1
    #31
    Fix for Scatter/Burn
    Hey Brian ! First on going on my friend. You are blessed and you bless us. Thank you. I found out on x-Mas day I have 4th stage lung cancer with metastisis to the lower jawbone. After 3 chemo treatmensts for the lungs the docs decided to try and radiate the jaw to ease some of the pain. 15 zaps later (no protection with a mouth guard,wax etc ) I haven't been able to eat or drink without horrible pain. in three weeks I am down another 30 (total of 130) and very unsure of how much further I want to take all of this. I only with my doctors would have told me about this. It may have made a huge difference in my life.
    Rock on all and God Bless !
  • Cacho
    Cacho Member Posts: 1
    #32
    sweetblood22 said:

    I almost asked my dentist
    I almost asked my dentist about this today but I didn't. Honestly if he told me that my tongue might not be like this if I wore my trays I would have come unglued. Like I'm not kidding and could seriously be moved to violence.

    I have tongue scars, daily pain and a speech impediment now. I'm 20 months out. Yeah I am not a violent woman but that could make me snap. :(

    tongue burn

    Hi- out 18 months and tongue burn sitll there.  how you doin'?

  • SusanUES
    SusanUES Member Posts: 125
    #33
    My team negged this, too

    I wish I had been permitted but, as others have stated, it would interfere with the mask fit.  The only thing I had was the awful tongue block...it was torture during rads and I would rip it out before the techs even unbuckled me.  I'm happy for those who had success with the trays...two thumbs up!

  • LiseA
    LiseA Member Posts: 266
    #34
    They made a tongue block for

    They made a tongue block for me. I don't imagine having that in for 20 minutes. Is it going to help with the fact that upper teeth have fillings on the side they will irradiate?  The normal side has fillings both at top and bottom. 

  • Kapital
    Kapital Member Posts: 52 Member
    edited May 2016 #35
    Dental Trays

         My husband was told by his radiation oncologist to wear the same trays he had a dentist make for fluoride treatments, prior to radiation treatments. They sent him to a special dental lab for the trays prior to treatment, not my husbands usual dentist. My husband thinks that he wore the trays when they fit him for his mask as well. He did not have scatter burns in his mouth that he was aware of. He has decreased saliva and little taste, but no tongue pain a year and a half out of treatment. He was treated for tonsil cancer with 3 Carboplatin and 6.5 weeks of radiation. Maybe it makes a difference if the primary site is base of tongue vs tonsil. 

                                                                                         Kapital

  • cat coin
    cat coin Member Posts: 1
    #36
    D Lewis said:

    Bummer
    I had the dental trays made... my dentist told me to use them during the radiation treatments to prevent burns from radiation scatter off my (many) crowns... and my radiation oncologist (fondly re-named "the mollusk" for her ice-water demeanor) told me NO, I WAS NOT ALLOWED TO USE THEM as they wouldn't help, and might interfere with the fit of the mask. So, no trays. Both sides of my tongue were pretty severely burned during treatment, and I have some significant scarring there, seven months out.

    So happy to hear that it worked so well for you. Perhaps I should have put up a bigger fight, or used them anyway...

    Deb

    Too expensive not to use!

    My husband had his mask made for radiation the other day and when he told them he brought his trays the rad tech told him they don't use them there and that they would stick to the bite plate he needed to make.  I told them that I had been working 18 hour days to pay the $800 for those trays since we don't have dental insurance!  A quick call to the Rad Onc explaining that and he agreed. They made the biteplate first, then he inserted trays before they made the mask. My husband still has mouth sores from the chemo so anything we can do to reduce them during radiation will be money well spent.

  • dalaitom
    dalaitom Member Posts: 27 Member
    #37
    My trays were late arriving

    My trays were late arriving so I didn't get them until about 3-4 days into treatment. The radiation techs told me me the day I got them that the Radiation Oncologist insisted that I wear the bottom tray during treatment. They even said the doctor might cancel my treatment for the day if I forgot to bring them. He seemed pretty adamant about that.

     

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