Hi Karen, welcome to OCF. Your husband sure has been thru alot. Ive had a mandibulectomy and know how hard it is to recover from. Your husband had it much worse than I did with having a radical hemiglossectomy and resection of the floor of mouth plus the nodes too. I will try to give you some help.

Thrush is a white coating inside the mouth that is painful. If it is not treated it can lead to further complications. Since your husband said it does not hurt, then it probably isnt thrush. One question about this...Does your husband have full feeling inside his mouth? This may sound rather silly but Im only trying to help figure out what this could be. Sometimes after major surgeries, there may be limited feeling.

Since your husband recently finished with chemo and radiation it is probably just the mouth sores that most of us experienced. Antibiotics and steroids would not cure mouth sores. They may help but he must heal on his own. What is odd though is the white coating, that normally is thrush. I wish it was easier to help you with this over the internet. I did the best I could with it, Im hoping some other members with experience will respond to your post. One last thing, I would be cautious of the doctor who has not treated other oral cancer patients.

We have a saying around here...When in doubt, check it out. If it were happening to someone in my household, I would take them back to the doc. Best wishes with his recovery. Please keep posting so we are able to help support you in other issues that may come up.