Bill

Please don't beat yourself up with "should've & could've" over not getting a thorough oral screening. As I have posted elsewhere, I passed a through dental review by a specialist in oral cancer patients prior to radiation replete with. I regular and panoramic X rays, Yet the radiation fried the nerves and jaw on my left side in order to get the cancer that had spread to those lymph nodes. Nevertheless so far I have had to have 3 root canals, 3 crowns and am currently hoping that this last root canal on an old wisdom tooth that otherwise would have been extracted because it suddenly cracked works out. Plus I continue to get ear pain and a sense of "fullness" that is especially worrisome since those were the only symptoms I had of the cancer. Both my ENT and prothodontist say don't worry, that they've seen this same effect from max doses (72 GY )radiation on the jaw muscles and jawbone and it can get better with time. I do jaw stretching daily as otherwise my mouth does start to close up. So while I agree with you about the importance of getting an oral checkup, it is no guarantee of freedom from future dental and jaw issues. It sucks to keep having issues from treatment and I hope things get better for you.