My radiologist and my dentist both told me that if I ever needed any teeth extracted I would need to have 20 HBO treatments before extraction, and ten following. This is to build up blood in your radiated jaw so that you don't suffer jaw deterioration. I can't even imagine that after all we've dealt with, and are dealing with. My medical insurance absolutely covers it. I live in the USA.

My radiologist also mentioned the benefits of HBO therapy for over all radiation injury, not just for tooth extractions, which I didn't need. I am 1 year, 7 months post radiation. I did 60 treatments this Summer. Mon - Fri for almost two hours in the chamber every morning for six weeks. My medical insurance covered it. Now we all know what the #1 saying is for oral cancer patients. "Everybody's different." But, I must share. I completed my last treatment two weeks ago. By no means is it a cure all, for me anyway. What it DID do for me is reduce swelling I had in my throat and mouth. After about 1/2 way through I had people close to me start telling me how much better I was sounding. I didn't realize how abnormal I sounded. Three different people mentioned I used to sound deaf. Not anymore. My speech is back to normal. As I said, we're all different in that we have various types of oral function loss. I still have pretty severe xerostomia, dry throat.(I had 4 out of 6 salivary glands removed. Unfortunately the ones removed were the most productive ones.) I cannot eat normally at all. Pretty much liquids or salads, some pastas. The HBO treatment helped my swallowing immensely. Before treatment, food and liquid would get stuck in the top of my throat and sometimes want to go down the pipe. That problem disappeared. I know my saliva glands are producing at least a little bit more because I'm not needing to drink as much water. Another thing I am really glad about is now that I have done these dives I won't need to any more if I do have teeth issues in the future. When oxygen builds the blood cells, they're permanent.

Just wanted to share that with you. I've learned a lot just reading fellow OC patient's posts. Anything little thing that can improve our quality of life I am happy to read and send. I do hope you're able to get HBO for your teeth. Take Care!