[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by johnco

wish I had you guy's problems.. had 3 lower teeth removed because they wouldn't be able to be saved after 3 chemo and 40 rad treatments around lower jaw and neck because of throat cancer. 5-6 yrs later I have only 5 lower left. every year or so one will go bad and have to be removed. a couple broke off, decaying from the inside out. i'm on my 5th parial adding one each time to give the appearance I have teeth and not look like a crackhead... such fun times

God bless you man. The long term side effects of head and neck radiation is a real problem. I have had several patients like you in the past and even published an article on oral effects of cancer therapy a few years ago. These days with IMRT it's alot better w/ less scatter but if they have to aim at your mandible there's no avoiding it. Dentures are hard b/c of lack of saliva flow, as you know, from the radiation killing your salivary glands, hence all the decay. If you have good bone for multiple implants it's the best option as implant's don't decay and a thinner fixed prosthesis is better for your situation than a big partial or a big denture. But hey, at least you're still with us!