Hi Russ, and welcome to the site. Like Joanna I had IMRT (X 33, 212 Gy/day/M-F) for a stage III/IV tonsil cancer. Whether or not they can save any salivary glands depends on whether they are directly in the radiation field. IMRT does give the greatest amount of control to spare healthy tissue.

They wanted to pull all of my teeth also and I wouldn't let them. I was told the risk of ORN was about 10%. I was willing to go the distance to maintain my teeth. There is still a small risk or ORN even if you get your teeth pulled. I would ask why they want to do this. If your teeth are not in good shape is the only reason I can see. If they can keep the radiation below 6200 gY through the teeth and jawbone, you should probably be ok. Some people here think that IMRT affords less radiation than XRT but that is not true. My tumor got it's 7,000 gY, maximum lifetime dose. XRT merely shotguns all the healthy tissue also. You are fortunate in that your tumor must be fairly well differentiated to qualify for IMRT. I am over 5 months post rad and doing pretty well now. It was no walk in the park for several months. Radiation is a difficult treatment no matter what type it is.

I would avoid any natural medicine options as if it isn't efficacious, you may lose time and allow the tumor an opportunity to spread or metastecize. Especially since this is a recurrence. Typically they also recommend 2 or 3 Cisplatin chemo treatments as an adjunct to the radiation.

I am not sure that you need a salivary function for dentures. Some of my salivary function is returning.