Hello all--I am very glad to start looking through such a large group of messages and learning all I can!

I am the wife of the patient. My 31-year old husband was diagnosed with OCC of his right tongue the Tuesday before Thanksgiving 2012 and everything has been such a whirlwind since. He was diagnosed as Stage I, but it was right on the Stage II line. He had a partial glossectomy in December 2012 and he is to start Rad and cisplatin next week. I am nervous about his side effects and I hope to read more about what to expect and how to treat them on this forum.

He has never smoked anything in his life, and barely drinks any alcohol. He is otherwise healthy and strong. He tested negative for HPV. We have very little idea what could have caused his cancer, so he is receiving especially aggressive treatment.

He is a physician in training himself, so he knows a lot more about how things could go than I do, so I have been playing a lot of catch up online and preparing myself. We just moved six months ago halfway across the country from our family so I am extra glad to find this forum.

Question: how many of you saw a Dentist before starting treatment? Can the MO and RO provide the proper things to help protect his mouth?

Look forward to getting to know you all.

Thanks,