Hi Mike,

The dry mouth may persist until sometime after the completion of radiation. My husband used to carry around a bottle of water and a "spit cup." It did help somewhat. At night, a humidifier at the side of the bed can be helpful, too. Others have used Xylitol gum or cough drops. Unfortunately, my husband John didn't like them.

Radiation in the head and neck area will impact the salivary glands and that will impact dental health. Did you doctors send you for a thorough dental checkup before radiation started and were you fitted with fluoride trays? If you have the trays, please use them religiously. Tooth extraction after radiation may be a tad more difficult as there may be healing problems with the radiated tissues. It is a good idea for you to visit your dentist more often after radiation so that any problems that arise can be dealt with ASAP.

Is your tumor in the oral tongue or is it in the oropharynx (this used to be called throat cancer). My husband had orophrangeal cancer at the base of tongue. He never had tumors in the oral cavity, it was deep down in the throat. The reason I asked is orophrangeal cancer can be caused by the HPV virus. My husband was not a smoker and only a social drinker. The HPV virus is an STD. Most of the population come into contact with the HPV virus sometime in their lives, and their bodies are able to clear it without medical intervention. A small percentage of people are unable to clear the virus and it developes into cancer decades later. When you had your biopsy, did your doctor check for HPV status?

You may want to have a read of the page on The HPV Connection on the main OCF website, here

http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/HPV/