Wow. Thank you everybody for sharing. Yet again, now I feel I've gotten off "easy" somehow.

Karen, are you sure your jaw shrank? Maybe just having the room freed up by removal of the one tooth allowed the others to shift and "fill in"? I don't mean to challenge you at all, but I wonder if you were told that your jaw shrank, of if that is the impression you have?

Christine, I hope you get your dentures soon and they are to your liking.

More than ten years ago I ended up having elaborate periodontal surgery to correct premature "deep pockets" in my gums (genetic, thanks mom!). The periodontal hygienist described to me how she had been the one to observe a growth in a friend/client's mouth that turned out to be oral cancer. Little did I know that this would turn out to be foreshadowing for my own life.

47 yr old male non-smoker, social drinker, fit. Jan'10, Stg3 rt tonsil+rt neck SCC, HPV+, rad+chmo Vancouver Cda. 2yr clear Apr'12 London UK. Apr'13 mets recur to lymph btw left lung & aorta, 3x Cisplatin+5FUchemo+20 rad, was all clear but 6-mo PET-CT shows mets to pleura around left lung, participating in St 1 trial of GDC-0980. GDC lost effect and ended July'14, bad atrial fibrillation requiring hospitalisation, start more standard chemo 10 Sep 2014.
Sadly has passed away, notified Jan 2015.