It was a so called dental onologist at a major CCC that told me to have ALL of my teeth pulled -even though I was having IMRT. I (after an extensive consult with my regular dentist and his son who had recent information form UCLA school of dentistry about managing oral cancer patients) decided against it and kept all of them. Many say here that losing their teeth was the worst part of the whole cancer experience. Like Brian says, this is old school thinking. There is a small risk, about 10%, of ORN (and truth be known some people who HAVE all their teeth yanked get ORN anyway).

All of my molars are crowned and yes, it did cause some radiation side scatter and additional pain and suffering at the the time, mainly blisters on the tongue (but no more).

Plan on getting dental trays, frequent office and at home flouride treatments, 3x a year cleaning and ratcheting up your oral hygiene. Get all of your repairs done now. Buy a Water Pik. Make them give you the hard facts on why you should have ANY teeth pulled.