Are you using flouride trays? Your post sounds like your dentist did not give them to you.

OCF main site --- pretreatment dental

As far as the dry mouth goes, what you are experiencing is normal. Many patients have dry mouth issues while going thru rads. The dry mouth you see talked about on our forum is probably something patients encounter during their recovery. This is temporary but can last for months and be annoying. Using a humidifier can help. Some find gum with xylitol helpful. Others use some lozenges that they stick to the roof of their mouth and it slowly dissolves. The rinses for dry mouth dont always work as well as they advertise.

Having teeth removed after rads brings a whole new set of possible problems. After rads a patients healing is compromised and they could run into some major issues (dry socket, ORN or osteoradionecrosis, means death of the jawbone) from the drawn out healing. If a patient needs teeth removed that should be done prior to starting rads. The best option would be removing teeth at least a couple weeks before rads so the mouth has healing time before starting radiation.

Hang in there!!! You have passed the half way point smile



Christine
SCC 6/15/07 L chk & by L molar both Stag I, age44
2x cispltn-35 IMRT end 9/27/07
-65 lbs in 2 mo, no caregvr
Clear PET 1/08
4/4/08 recur L chk Stag I
surg 4/16/08 clr marg
215 HBO dives
3/09 teeth out, trismus
7/2/09 recur, Stg IV
8/24/09 trach, ND, mandiblctmy
3wks medicly inducd coma
2 mo xtended hospital stay, ICU & burn unit
PICC line IV antibx 8 mo
10/4/10, 2/14/11 reconst surg
OC 3x in 3 years
very happy to be alive smile