Sorry for the urgency. My aunt in her 70's has been treated for a verrucous carcinoma on her gum, she has completed radiation.We are having a problem with an infection in the bone primarily caused by dental inplant - she can not wear dentures bad gag reflax. We would like to find a specialist, the local dentist is not handling this well. We are in Western MA. Thank you.
What kind of Dr are you looking for ? and I am not good with western MA is that closer to Boston or NY ?
Shar
We are about an 90 minutes from Boston. We need an oral surgeon/dentist that specializes with cancer issues.
The dental department at your treatment center should be able to refer you to someone qualified in your area. There is also a book, The Best Dentists in America, by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith that lists dentists by their specialty and area in which they are located. I would guess that if you found someone in this book in your area, that if they couldn't help you, they could refer to you to someone near that could.
Take care,
Eileen
You could also try calling the dental schools in Boston (Harvard, Tufts, BU, etc.) and see if any faculty members specialize in cancer-related problems.
Dana-Farber/Brigham & Women's Cancer Center or Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center should have dentists on staff (or available on referral) as well.
-- Leslie
I was going to say Dana Farber ..I went there and they are phenomenal !! SO I mean you can call and ask if they know someone or even have a dentist on staff .
Are you more in like the springfeild area ?
It sounds like she may need HBO. Most of the major cancer centers have dental oncologists. I would seek one of those as quickly as possible.
Infections can be very serious post rad.
I would suggest Dana-Farber -- if they do not have the facilities on site they will have a regular referral dental oncologist at one of the area's dental schools. Osteonecrosis is a real risk with this infection, as mentioned HBO treatments may be neceassry...
Gail
If you look at Dana Farber's website they have a dental oncologist on staff - look under Head and Neck Oncology Department (Dr. Edward Peters is listed on their website).
My husband has not had to refer for dental oncology but he is 3.5 weeks out of treatment at DFCI - the facility and staff could not have been better. We are located 50 miles west of Boston and traveled in 5 days/wk for 7 weeks for his treatment and it was worth it.