Debridement hasn't been discussed. It's something I certainly would bring up with our surgeon. My husband had 20 hyperbaric treatments before the teeth were extracted and 10 after. Then he was put on doxycycline for about 3 months, then off for a month. Then the oral surgeon hit us with the news that things weren't healing and he needed jaw replacement surgery. John developed a cyst on his lower jaw about 2 months ago that they say is proof of more jaw deterioration. A special x-ray was taken that showed the full deterioration. Now he is on clindomycin for 3 weeks.
The oral surgeon feels that the surgery needs to be done very soon. However, our head and neck surgeon told us this isn't something that needs to be done immediately:that this is a huge decision, that we should take time for John to put on some weight because he'll have to have a feeding tube and a tracheostomy. The surgery and recovery sounds just brutal, and, at 70 years old, it's not going to be easy for my husband who I feel has already been through hell.

I'm just feeling totally overwhelmed. I've been doing some research and wonder if more hyperbaric treatments wouldn't help to rejuvenate the bone.

We're at Northwestern and trust our head and neck surgeon implicitly. I feel the oral surgeon is trying to rush us into this thing.

I'm anxious to find out if there are any experimental bone treatments that could help rather than jaw reconstruction.

Thanks so much for replying. Keep me posted on what's happening with you.