I hope I'm doing this right. My brother has been diagnosed with squamous cell cancer of the right tonsil. He's late stage three. Friday he has all his teeth pulled. In two weeks he begins chemo and radiation. He's so scared and so are we.

Welcome JC,
Please have him ask if the teeth really need to come out. I went through radiation and still have all my teeth. It makes eating with less saliva easier.

I understand the fears you have and you can feel at ease coming here to ask for help.

Take care

Welcome to the Oral Cancer Foundation jc.

It's very normal to be scared about this diaease. We all are at the point he is at. I was a stage 4, right tonsil also. Going thru treatment is no picnic but many of of have and survived. I see no reason why he can't to.

If you go to the search engine at the top of the page you can read many postings about treatment and it's side effects. The more knowledge you have the better questions you will have to make sound decisions about his treatment.

Like Mark says many of us went thru without getting our teeth pulled. Has he had a second opinion on his condition? Is he being treated at a Comprensive Cancer Center?
You want someone who sees alot of what he has treating him. A team of disiplines that come to a mutual decision on how best to treat him. Again welcome and let us know how he's doing.

All my best, Danny Boy

JC,
I'm also a 3+ year right tonsil, stage III/IV survivor and I also kept my teeth. Unless his dental hygiene is bad or he has gum disease, these is no good reason to pull teeth. Tell us more about his recommended treatment plan.

Oh, and yes I was scared sh*tless for some time. They have some great antianxiety drugs out there for that.

They're going to pull the teeth Friday. He had a meeting Monday and they're going ahead with it.I don't know what shape his teeth are in. I always thought ok. They're also cutting away a growth on his jaw but not that its cancer from what I understand. This is hard because he doesn't have a computer and doesn't know how to use one. He's 59. Are some of you that age? He's going to the VA in Ann Arbor Michigan for his treatment. Some of the Drs. there also work at Ann Arbor Medical school. I would think a VA would see alot of oral cancers. He only has VA and Medicare for insurance. I was wondering if any of you had a salivary gland removed ahead of time and then had it replaced after all treatment was done?

I wonder how much I should pursue this teeth thing with him. He's been agonizing over it and now has made the decision. I hate to keep him freaked out with more questions. I think they're arguement is they don't want down the road to have cancer go into the jawbone.
I'll have so many questions. Thanks for your help.
Oh yeah, what is IMRT?
Could someone who did have their teeth pulled tell me what the reasons were?

Another thing I thought of. Having the teeth pulled delays treatment another two to three weeks. That's scarey too.
You all have to go through so much. I admire you so very much.

JC, The usual reason teeth are removed is because radiation can cause poor teeth to become worse. Radiated tissue heals more slowly and can result in serious complications in the bone, if teeth need to be pulled after radiation. Removing teeth is "Old School" unless he has poor dental health. It is worth the time to be seen by a dentist that is familiar with radiation.

Asking questions of his doctors is the only way to get the answers you need. The patient is usually so fear-struck that they often do not listen well and do not ask enough questions. Does he have a family member that can go with and take notes?

IMRT is a radiation delivery system. It is generally considered to be the better system to accurately deliver the radiation therapy. If he can get it, it will probably mean less long term side effects. I don't know of anyone here that has had the salivary gland relocation procedure. It is very new and I do not know where it is being done. If they are offering it to him, he must be at a pretty good hospital.

You can search this forum to get answers more quickly by clocking on the "search" word at the top of the page.

Take care

I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the right tonsil in April 05. I had my tonsils taken out, then a radical neck dissection then radiation and chemo. No one ever said anything about having any teeth pulled. My dentist says my teeth are looking good now. I was terrified of the radiation treatments and they were bad but I got through them pretty well all things considered. Something that helped me was a book a friend gave me called Getting Well Again by O. Carl Simonton. It made me look at the treatments as something to be thankful for rather than something to dread. The treatments are what kills the cancer and that's a good thing. I finished my treatments in early September 05 and I am back to what I call the "new" normal. I can do everything I did before, work out at the gym, play with my daughter, volunteer. I was given a drug called Amofostine which helped preserve some of my salivary glands but I did lose some so my mouth does get dry and I can't eat a lot of things I used to and what I can eat I can't taste. But I am grateful for the good things. Your brother is lucky to have you to support him. I wish you luck and blessings.

jc,

You may be right that your brother's hospital sees a lot of oral cancers. My oral surgeon told me he had done his residency in a VA hospital and saw plenty of them while he was there.

However, I'm with those who think you should get a full explanation of the reasons why they want to pull all of your brother's teeth. I had conventional field radiation 17 years ago and have never had a single tooth pulled in my life. (I was 39 when I was diagnosed and am 56 now.) My teeth were in pretty good shape back then and, while I've had to deal with some dry mouth issues, I haven't had to have too much in the way of major dental work in recent years.

Cathy

Hello jc

Sorry your family has to go through this journey. Like others I had radiation to both sides of my neck and throat for rh tonsil cancer.

An oral surgeon oncology specialist assessed my teeth prior to any treatment and decided that a couple of 'dodgy' back teeth should be removed. This was because they would leave 'holes' in the jaw if they caused problems and needed extraction later in life. The radiated jaw bone does not heal normally and infections etc can easily occur.

The removal of the teeth had nothing to do with the actual radiation process.

Like Rainey I welcomed every treatment and visualised a clean healthy throat as I received the ray. It helped me.

Love to you and your brother from Helen