Dead Bone in Jaw

Bowing
Bowing Member Posts: 14
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

I went to my ent specialist with swelling and pain on the inside of my mouth at the bottom along the jaw bone.  Through a hole in the inside skin he could see what he called a 'dead bone' from the radiation (which I finished my 30 treatments at the end of April).  He has given me antibiotics for an infection there and said that he hopes he doesn't have to take any out, saying we would talk more about that in August when I see him after my next MRI.   Has anyone had experience with dead bones from radiation?  Thank-you for any information you can give me.

Comments

  • Nous Defions
    Nous Defions Member Posts: 33 Member
    #2
    osteoradionecrosis of the jaw

    I had it happen to my lower right mandible.  They performed surgery to remove as much of the affected bone as possible without compromising normal jaw function.  Post-surgery everything went fine without too much pain.  One week after surgery I started Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) for 4 months to stop any further necrosis.  I did a total of 60 HBO treatments in 2013.  I am still without any further complications or pain in my lower jaw.  You will be fine! Let me know if you have any questions.

    Will

  • Bowing
    Bowing Member Posts: 14
    #3
    Nous Defions said:

    osteoradionecrosis of the jaw

    I had it happen to my lower right mandible.  They performed surgery to remove as much of the affected bone as possible without compromising normal jaw function.  Post-surgery everything went fine without too much pain.  One week after surgery I started Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) for 4 months to stop any further necrosis.  I did a total of 60 HBO treatments in 2013.  I am still without any further complications or pain in my lower jaw.  You will be fine! Let me know if you have any questions.

    Will

    Thank-you so much Will.  All

    Thank-you so much Will.  All this is new territory and is frightening!  I just keep telling myself that I am fortunate compared to the poor children with cancer.

     

  • Nous Defions
    Nous Defions Member Posts: 33 Member
    edited July 2019 #4
    Bowing said:

    Thank-you so much Will.  All

    Thank-you so much Will.  All this is new territory and is frightening!  I just keep telling myself that I am fortunate compared to the poor children with cancer.

     

  • Bowing
    Bowing Member Posts: 14
    edited July 2019 #5
    Nous Defions said:

    Very good advice!  I am on

    Very good advice!  I am on morphine for pain and take very little because it is an opiod.  My family keeps telling me that I should forget about that and control the pain first and not to worry about any addiction.  So I am upping the dose to what the doctor recommended and we will see if it does 'control' things. 

    I did have a neck dissection on the right side at the end of Jan 2019.  They took out about 21 lymph nodes...cancer in one.   All went well and I healed quickly.  No chemo but 6 weeks of radiation (30 treatments).   I really believe that if i had NOT had radiation that all would be well now, although again family says that they had to irradicate the leftover cells so it would not return.   I was talking to someone who had similar cancer about 15 years ago and he said do not listen to the 'experts' ... that the effects and problems from radiation takes a year or longer  to go away.  

    Thanks again for all the information and support.  Having people to talk to and get advice from helps enormously.

    Linda 

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