Christine,

Thank you for your information.

You say that they used titanium to "initially" replace the jaw bone... Did you later have a bone graft? My husband will keep the titanium plate as a permanent fix.

Did you have any problem with infection afer the surgery? I just spoke to my neighbor, who is an orthopedic surgeon, and he questions why they are doing the resection and the titanium plate in the same surgery, particularly since there is infection. He thinks that this would cause infection to be introduced to the titanium plate and my husband would then live with infection indefinitely. His thought is why not remove the necrotic bone, allow the infection to clear completely and then add the plate to a clean, infection free field. He said that is what they do in orthopedics. It sounds logical. You seem to know AlOT about these procedures. What are your thoughts on his reasoning? We are going to ask the oral surgeon who will do the surgery and his local oral surgeon (who is not doing the surgery because he doesn't take Medicare) what they think.

Yes, my husband has cancer of the base of the tongue 7 years ago. He has dealt with all kinds of issues since then, but this one is the most complicated. We are hoping that the constant pain will finally be resolved after the surgery.

Thank you again for your help and support!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Anne