Have to get a molar pulled

Yes, Paula, I am not sure if it is just considered the best treatment now or not. I had HBOT one other time. I was recently back to my oral surgeon to have a tooth removed that had broken off. Luckily it was an upper tooth and he felt it was out of the radiati0on field enough to pull it without previous treatment such as HBOT. I asked him about other teeth later and if they need to be pulled would I need to get HBOT again and he said no I wouldn't get that again I would get the Pentoxifylline and vitamin E mentioned earlier. I would like a better explanation of this and the HBOT treatment and if this is what they are recommending now. He seemed busy at the time so I couldn't discuss it at length. I may try to send an email to his office and then he can answer my questions when he has time. Maybe the insurance companies are involved in the reason for this. I don't know but if I get some answers I will let the group know.

Take Care, God Bless-Russ

Hello to all - it's been awhile. Some of you may remember my husband's battle with tongue cancer, mets to neck, and then recurring dysplasia on tongue. All has been stable, and he is still NED - it's been 9 years since initial diagnosis. Sadly, his dentist now believes 2 wisdom teeth may need to be pulled (one top and one bottom) and is sending him to oral surgeon. The appearance of Paulassad's post seemed timely indeed. What do folks know about the use of Pentoxifylline and Vitamin E? We'll be asking the surgeon, but I'm curious about real-life experiences.

Thanks, Russ. The prospect of tooth extraction has been dreaded from the get-go. His teeth were all in good shape at the outset, when he had the standard exams. I'll keep you posted as saga develops. In the meantime, best wishes to all on the forum.

I used the PENTO therapy for ORN and it worked WONDERFULLY!!! It healed the ORN in no time. Many dentists now use it for head and neck cancer patients and it does the job, cheap and no side effects!!

I am also now in this situation of soon having an extraction.

I had a previous extraction and had HBOT before the extraction.

I am now facing an extraction and My dental surgeon told me previously that on the next extraction if you need one we will be using the Pentoxifylline and vitamin E.

I have a tooth that has broken off and has some infection, the dentist tried a root canal to save it and it was unsuccessful. I am taking Antibiotics for the infection.

So I go to Conestoga Oral Surgeons on Wednesday the 19th at 1:30 PM to have it extracted unless they can come up with a different idea.

You know what we head and neck cancer radiated people fear of extractions is the risk of Osteoradionecrosis every time we need an extraction.

So goffrey, I am glad to know the Pento therapy worked well for you, a good testimonial from someone like you who has personally experienced it makes it a little less unnerving to go through and more confident of a success and no ORN. Thanks for weighing in on this and sharing your experience.

So, anyone out there reading this and would like to Would you please pray for me for smooth extraction, good healing, especially the healing part which is the most important part, and a successful procedure without complications?

It would be greatly appreciated.

Take Care, God Bless

Russ

Thanks ProustLover, for your support, it is appreciated.

Previous extractions have been successful but there is always that concern there of the possibility not being the same because it is a different tooth and a different area but close though the one beside it was pulled but it has been I think 3-5 years since I had that one done and had 30 HBOT treatments previous to that.

I usually don't have any issues with extractions so post-extraction healing is the key here for us H&N folks.

I go to the oral surgeon tomorrow at 1:30.

Any well wishes or prayers are appreciated.

Take Care, God Bless

NEGU (Never Ever Give Up)

Russ

Here's the Final story on pentoxifylline, tocopherol (vitamin E) use and my tooth extraction situation.

Pentoxifylline is a time-release pill and needs to be swallowed whole.

If, due to Head and Neck treatment someone cannot swallow pills or pills bigger than a small thyroid pill they can not use this regimen, or someone on a feeding tube could not use this.

My tooth had broken off and I went to the dentist to just save it and get a filler coating on top of it and let it just sit there even though it would be non-functional for eating.

The reason is that every time a Head And Neck patient gets an extraction they risk the possible condition of Osteoradionecrosis (ORN)

So the only option now is extraction at the oral surgeons.

I was going to have it extracted on 2/19/25 but we changed course and the Oral Surgeon thought it would be a plus for me to take a 2-week course of the drug pentoxifylline, tocopherol (vitamin E) and the drug clodronate (PENTOCLO). Pentoxifylline improves blood flow than have the tooth extracted, better blood flow better healing.

I picked up the drugs at the pharmacy and when I got home noticed right away on the drug pentoxifylline it says no chewing and do not grind up.

They are time-release pills and need to be swallowed whole. So I can't do that I can only swallow small pills and these are too big. I need to be able to grind the pills up and mix with applesauce.

So I call the pharmacist and the oral surgeon for an alternative but there is none except maybe the pharmacist says there are pharmacies that are called "Compounding Pharmacies", maybe they can make it for you that you can take it with applesauce.

So I got in touch with a "Compounding Pharmacy" and they can make a substitute for the drug pentoxifylline but it would not be time release and the lady there wonders does that matter, will it still be effective in non-time release form, she doesn't know and wants me to call the oral surgeon and question him on it so I call and he says he is not a pharmacist and thinks they should know that. So it looks like no one is sure on the effectiveness if it is not time-release.

So I am not interested in ingesting a pill compound for 2 weeks that may not give me any benefit.

So long story short here on using pentoxifylline and vitamin E previous to extractions I have heard good reports on it being used by Head and Neck cancer patients.

And for those of us that can't swallow a larger pill, this is not an option for us.

For those who have trouble swallowing anything more than a small thyroid pill or are on a feeding tube only it is not an option.

Things didn't go exactly as planned but I learned a lot through this and hopefully, it answers some questions in their case and moving forward and helps anyone going through this.

I have an appointment set in 2 weeks to have the tooth out because that was the length of the pill regimen I was going to be on before extraction so I am just letting the same date, March 6 stay set for extraction unless in the meantime I have pain or some other issue that causes me to move it up sooner.

Wishing You The Best

NEGU (Never Ever Give Up)

Take Care, God Bless

Russ