My husband is a 12 year cancer survivor. He went through oral cancer treatments in 2007 and had stage 4 SCC. I'm kind of an over-planner and knew going into this relationship that osteoradionecrosis was a possibility and that eventually it could mean total jaw replacement. We're not there yet. We're in this awful stage for the last several years of tooth decay/loss. Initially, we went for a denture consult, and that doctor wouldn't touch him. Husband said this is typical, doctors don't want to mess with cancer patients because of the risk, he did give us several oral surgeons to investigate, and none of them really panned out.

A couple years ago we went for a consultation at Orlando Health. The doctor there basically said there was nothing she could do that was covered by our insurance and that dentures were his only option. Even the thought of having to get dentures makes his anxiety go through the roof, he wants to believe implants are possible, but ORN has already started affecting his jaw. Later that same year he received a referral to Shands of UF, and the doctors there were wonderful, they said they could help and we just needed his records sent over. Requested them from Moffitt, sent over, no problems there, except the radiation mapping was completely missing. Surgeons at Shands said without the radiation mapping treatment was too risky. Now I didn't go to this consultation, but in my mind we're on a lifelong journey where eventually we may see total jaw replacement, so I'm not sure what too risky means? I'm also, once again reaching out to Moffitt, hoping maybe there's some place they didn't look for the radiation mapping, because I just can't imagine a situation where you keep the patient records in archives but just not that?

So that's where we are. What I know is that there's mixed information on dental treatment, statistically speaking implants are not impossible, but logistically finding someone who will do it is another story. There's a dentist in Bradenton who advocates for dental care for oral cancer patients, I feel like we're past the dental care stage, so we need to be looking at surgeons who know how to deal with ORN. We've theoretically found surgeons, but not without the radiation mapping. Is there anything I'm overlooking?