Hi everybody,

I'm about seven months from my radiation/chemo treatments and I feel as if my teeth are shifting. My teeth don't seem to "mesh" together the same as they used to. I wear a night guard to protect against tooth grinding, and have done so for years without a problem, yet now, particularly in the mornings, it's as if my teeth have moved out of position during the night?

Anyone else experience this?

Thank you,

-Seth

You are not alone. My teeth have shifted quite a bit. I also had a gum graft to try and reduce the shifting because my gums began to recede as well.

My teeth shifted and loosened so much after radiation. It got so bad that I could barely eat. Eventually I had to have them removed in hopes of getting dentures. Unfotunately, I ended up with a recurrance before I could get dentures. Im now waiting until I heal a few more months then I will be able to get my dentures.

Hi Seth,

To give you an example of how much damage radiotherapy can cause. I had one crown upper premolar tooth removed before treatments began. Several months after treatments, my upper jaw bone contracted so much there was no longer an empty space from the removal of the tooth. Considering the radiotherapy was mostly aimed at my lower mouth and neck, it's also caused serious ongoing problems to my upper teeth.

Karen

Wow. Thank you everybody for sharing. Yet again, now I feel I've gotten off "easy" somehow.

Karen, are you sure your jaw shrank? Maybe just having the room freed up by removal of the one tooth allowed the others to shift and "fill in"? I don't mean to challenge you at all, but I wonder if you were told that your jaw shrank, of if that is the impression you have?

Christine, I hope you get your dentures soon and they are to your liking.

More than ten years ago I ended up having elaborate periodontal surgery to correct premature "deep pockets" in my gums (genetic, thanks mom!). The periodontal hygienist described to me how she had been the one to observe a growth in a friend/client's mouth that turned out to be oral cancer. Little did I know that this would turn out to be foreshadowing for my own life.

Seth

It shrunk. That's the prognosis from the Radiotherapy Oncologist and Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon. They tell me "Radiotherapy is the necessary evil".

I've had nearly all my lower (mandible) jaw rebuilt and reconstructed with bone from my hip, because of Osteoradionecrosis (ORN - radiotherapy damage). The radiotherapy killed the blood flow in the bone, and therefore the bone was dead and had to be replaced. Besides losing my healthy teeth from the removed mandible jaw, the lower part of my face, gums and chin are compromised, all due to radiotherapy.

I know my issues are extreme, but ongoing dental issues are not unusal for head and neck cancer patients who have had radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy.

Karen