| Joined: Apr 2011 Posts: 267 Gold Member (200+ posts) | OP Gold Member (200+ posts) Joined: Apr 2011 Posts: 267 | I am about to start week 5 of radiation and I am having a really hard time keeping my mouth clean. I don't have flouride trays, just a high flouride toothpaste that I was told to use after treatment. I have very healthy teeth. Never had a cavity or any kind of dental issue. I suspect that will change post-treatment. Anyway, I have been doing salt and baking soda rinses several times each day and scraping the yeast of my tongue with a little tongue cleaner. When I brush my teeth, my gums just bleed and bleed. I bought a waterpik but it stings like crazy so I haven't been using it. Any tips on how to take better care of my teeth until these sores and the thrush clear up?
Tracy - 33 at diagnosis SCC right ventral tongue Dx 4/11. T1N2M0 1st resection 5/11. Bilateral neck dissection: 2 pos nodes 2nd resection w/graft 6/11. Erbitux x 11 completed 9/11. IMRT x 30 completed 8/11. 3 month MRI and PET/CT all clear. 6, 9, 12 and 24 month post treatment MRIs all clear. | | | | Joined: Nov 2010 Posts: 167 Senior Member (100+ posts) | Senior Member (100+ posts) Joined: Nov 2010 Posts: 167 | I used an infant toothbrush and Tom's children's strawberry toothpaste - the bristles were super soft and the children's toothpaste was gentle and didn't burn like anything minty that I had tried.
Jennifer (39) 02/10 SCCa Tongue & Base, HPV- 03/10 Partial Glossectomy & ND 11/10 Revision due to additional nodes 12/20-2/2/11 IMRT & concommitant chemo 2/11 PEG in 3/11 PEG out Back at work and feeling good 03/24/11! 12/20/11 - 9 month f/u PET/CT - all clear!
| | | | Joined: Dec 2010 Posts: 5,260 Likes: 3 "OCF Canuck" Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | "OCF Canuck" Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) Joined: Dec 2010 Posts: 5,260 Likes: 3 | Yes and I find a waterpik invaluable!!!!! I put a little toms mouthwash in with the water and give my mouth a shower! It's a little like a power washer for your mouth and the have a tongue cleaner adapter tooooo! Awesome tool. Use the lowest setting at first uf you cn tolerate it great! Move up! good luck. And heal well!
Cheryl : Irritation - 2004 BX: 6/2008 : Inflam. BX: 12/10, DX: 12/10 : SCC - LS tongue well dif. T2N1M0. 2/11 hemigloss + recon. : PND - 40 nodes - 39 clear. 3/11 - 5/11 IMRT 33 + cis x2, PEG 3/28/11 - 5/19/11 3 head, 2 chest scans - clear(fingers crossed) HPV-, No smoke, drink, or drugs, Vegan
| | | | Joined: Apr 2011 Posts: 267 Gold Member (200+ posts) | OP Gold Member (200+ posts) Joined: Apr 2011 Posts: 267 | Thanks guy. I bought a baby toothbrush today. Dora the Explorer!
Tracy - 33 at diagnosis SCC right ventral tongue Dx 4/11. T1N2M0 1st resection 5/11. Bilateral neck dissection: 2 pos nodes 2nd resection w/graft 6/11. Erbitux x 11 completed 9/11. IMRT x 30 completed 8/11. 3 month MRI and PET/CT all clear. 6, 9, 12 and 24 month post treatment MRIs all clear. | | | | Joined: Dec 2010 Posts: 291 Gold Member (200+ posts) | Gold Member (200+ posts) Joined: Dec 2010 Posts: 291 | Tracy, You know, your healthy teeth/gums don't have to change post-treatment. Mine have not. I was lucky early on that my teeth were resistant to decay when I was a kid. I don't know why cause I sure loved hard candy, although in my family we never kept soft drinks around, they were only for "special occasions", different from today. I'm not that old, but that was how it was. I have one crown from having a large filling that might not have needed to be done, and the tooth eventually cracked, so my husband, who is my general dentist, put a porcelain crown on it--it's a molar. But now, I take excellent care of my teeth. I may floss them after every meal, depending. I do use fluoride trays although I hate them.
Your mucosa will change in your mouth. I have a little fibroma on my molar pad that is very soft, they looked at it at my last check up and told me it was nothing. If you take it out then you just have more scar tissue, and it looks like it is regressing at that. The tissue is just more sensitive. But when I have my teeth cleaned, they tell me my teeth look great, my gums look great, and I have more saliva than a lot of people, as they have a lot of elderly patients (won't say where that age begins, don't know) who have lost a lot of that without having radiation.
So be proactive and you won't be sorry. I have used kid toothbrushes, but we bought a whole bunch of smaller head very soft adult ones recently, so I can change out frequently. I will say it took a little searching to find them. A dentist might be able to help you if you wanted to find something like that. Anne
SCC tongue 9/2010, excised w/clear margins:8 X 4 mm, 1 mm deep Neck Met, 10/2010, 1 cm lymph node; 12/21/'10: Neck Diss 30 nodes, 29 clear, micro ECE node, part tongue gloss, no residual scc IMRT & 6 cisplatin 1/20/11-2/28/11 at MDA GIST tumor sarcoma, removed 9/2011, no chemo needed Clear on both counts as of Fall, 2021
| | | | Joined: Mar 2008 Posts: 3,082 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) Joined: Mar 2008 Posts: 3,082 | Echoing Anne, flouride trays are a great way to keep dental health. Bleeding from the gums was part and parcel of my Erbitux experience. It gets better Keep the faith Charm 65 yr Old Frack Stage IV BOT T3N2M0 HPV 16+ 2007:72GY IMRT(40) 8 ERBITUX No PEG 2008:CANCER BACK Salvage Surgery 25GY-CyberKnife(5) 3 Carboplatin Apaghia /G button 2012: CANCER BACK -left tonsilar fossa 40GY-CyberKnife(5) 3 Carboplatin Passed away 4-29-13
| | |
Forums23 Topics18,168 Posts196,927 Members13,104 | Most Online458 Jan 16th, 2020 | | | |