Hi Betty, Your husband has been through a lot. My husband had to debreed my mouth with a solution of hydrogen peroxide and water with large size Q-tip. My home care nurse gave us sponge type swabs to use, and lemon flavored swabs this was for moisture because at that point my mouth was very dry. You should really contact your Doctor, nurse or home care person to see whats safest for your husbands case. You can get a fungus in your mouth when your not eating for a long time, my mouth started to taste like dirt, when I went in for my check-up I had a fungus! On top of everythin else I felt that was disgusting, Medication got rid of it very quickly. Good luck to you. gnelson