Hi Folks from UK
My surgeon has asked me to review this site for him and I am suitably impressed. I was diagnosed with Oral C (T3,N1,M0 carcinoma) in Sep 2000 & had 11 hour op one month later. Had neck dissection and lost most of lower left jaw,then oral reconstruction with a free flap from left forearm. Dispite one cancerous lymph, I did not proceed with radiotherapy. Since then I have tried conventional dentures which were useless; so I had bone grafted from my hip and another neck dissection to screw hip bone onto what bone was still left in my jaw. Worked great and eventually had 3 titanium implants into new bone and a dental bridge then screwed into the implants. 2 more years of monitoring to go.Various problems on route but 2004 should be my first year for a while with no ops, and I have just retired from work. Happy to discuss my scenario with anybody!

Welcome, AJ. I am glad you found this site, which is a tremendous resource for both patients and care givers. Regarding teeth, I have had titanium implants into native radiated bone, but have to wait some months before the new teeth are added. I had hyperbaric oxygen treatments to revascularize the bone. I would very much like to hear from you that your implants work just fine. Dentures are not an option for me either, and my no-chew diet is not exactly gourmet (grin).
Joanna, Temporarily Toothless and SO Lovely

Welcome AJ!

Glad to hear you are in good shape, you and I are just months apart in our diagnosis.

There are probably many whom would benifit from hearing about your experience. Cheers to your surgeon for her/his suggestion.

I hope you have many many years to enjoy your retirement.

Hello AJ!!

Nice to hear you are doing so well, It still amazes me what they can do to the human body!!
Move a Pech muscle from my chest and use it to rebuild my throat!!!
Rebuild entire jaw bones!!
All the different implants.
etc.
Keep up the good work,

Dan

hi AJ, and welcome to this site.i can guarantee youwillbe glad u found this siteit is very informative without being scary .i have found having read numerous posts that consultants etc tell us the minumim about the treatment for this beastly disease i have learnt a lot since i become a member of this forum . happy retirement from another uk resident maz

Hello AJ
Been a while since we saw you. Happy retirement.
I am so impressed ..your Doc knew about our site...Great!
Glad you are doing well.
Take care
Marica

Hi AJ,

Good to hear from another survivor. I too am impressed that your dr recommended the site. Enjoy that retirement. I got 2+ years to go and can't wait.

Take care,
Eileen

It has been a while - since the original post is over a year old!

I think everyone here would like to hear about your experience with the dental implants and the rebuilding of your mandible. We haven't had that many postings on the topic, and though some of us are very familiar with the technology, your first-hand story would be interesting to everyone. I might add that dental implants can be restored in other ways besides screwed on porcelain teeth. For instance, some restorations use a 2 to 4 implant group with a metal bar attached between them. Then a denture with retention clips on the underside of it is used to fasten the denture to the bar. It can be removed for cleaning, is vey stable, and since an entire mandible of denture teeth can be set on top, is cost effective as resotorations go. There are also small balls that can be screwed on top of the implants, and in the denture base there is placed a small metal retainer with a silicone rubber o-ring in it that slips over the balls, and once past the height of contour holds the denture in place. This kind of restoration is used in younger patients, as the denture is partially supported by resting on the mandibular or maxillary ridge, but prevented from much lateral movement during chewing by the o ring/ball retention method. In some patients they even have used sub miniature neodynium cobalt magnets in the denture, and on top of the implant they place an iron containg alloy keeper that the denture is attracted to. There are a wide areiety of possibilities and these are mostly determined by the amount of bone there is to hold the implant (larger implants can take more loading than smaller ones) and whether or not the patient has any natural dentition left that a fixed porcelain to metal bridge might be attched to besides its attachemnt to the implants themselves. Fixed restorations must be hygienically maintained with meticulous care, as implants can be lost to periodontal disease just like natural teeth. Osteointegration of titanium into natural bone is an amazing thing, actually discovered by accident when a researcher named Branemark from Sweden, placed some small titanium tubes in rabbit femurs so that he could observe through them the activity in the marrow. After the animals were sacrificed at the end of the experiment, he found that the bone had grown to the titanium tubes in such a strong manner, that they could not be separated. This natural occurring phenomenon of osteointegration became the basis for many breakthroughs and made dental implants posssible. There is no rejection by the body of parts made from CP titanium or the most popular and strongest alloy of it Ti6Al4V, which mixes aluminum and vanadium with the titanium to overcome titanium's natural brittleness.

Implants? I am tempted to post a picture of me smiling with my brand new as of last week implants which work wonderfully well. My new teeth are attached to and resting on a metal frame which is screwed into the implants. This can be removed by the dentist, but not by the patient (that's what they think). I am putting together a Hints and Tips sheet for my dentist to give to other implant people, as I have already discovered some information that would have been helpful to me. If there is anyone out there with implants of the type I have, I will be glad to share some cleaning tips I have discovered. Just e-mail me. One really cool thing I learned about implants is that when the teeth above are properly placed so that chewing pressure is placed directly over the implants, they stimulate the bone just as real roots do, thus keeping it healthy. Maybe it was because I was on soft foods for a year, but I think these are the best teeth I have ever had and are worth every one of the very many pennies they cost.