Informed consent requires the doctor to tell the patient every possible thing, no matter how remote the chance of it actually occurring to her. IMRT radiation has reduced many of the side effects substantially, but there will be some. This is normal, not unique to her, and we all deal with it. Bottom line, as cold as it may sound, she just has to accept that this is no walk in the park, and that there are likely some consequences to this NEEDED treatment. Whatever her new normal is after it all, she really won't know for quite awhile after treatments end. But whatever it is, we all deal with it and go on to productive lives.
Going to the dentist to ensure that everything in her mouth is 100% healthy, is normal, as somethings like having a tooth extracted after treatments causes significant complications. So she wills start treatment with everything the best it can be. If a tooth is determined to be marginal or unrestorable, it will likely be extracted. In most people with healthy mouths (meaning that they brush and floss routinely) this is not a big issue.
The area that is going to be radiated is likey more complex than you have described as IMRT radiation allows for hundreds of small beams of varying intensity and duration to be used vs. the old technique that I had where your whole head from the cheeks to my clavicles got nuked. Things have improved significantly and they now can map around her major salivary glands if possible depending on tumor location, the nerves and muscles that control the swallowing mechanism, the facial nerves and so much more.
I am going to let someone who has more recently been through treatment talk to the issues of cremes and lotions for the inevitable skin burning, which can vary wildly depending on her disease state and location.
It really won't get to be uncomfortable for the first couple of weeks, and after that she will feel lethargic, need pain meds for the sores that will likely develop in her mouth, and other things, that as they occur, you can come to the board with comments on. Tell her to enjoy eating without remorse right now, anything that makes her feel good, her ability to enjoy eating is going to go away for awhile during treatments, but will likely mostly return a month or two afterwards.
