Thank you all so much for replying, I need some time to digest all of this but it does sound as if the use of a plate is perhaps not as bleak as the surgeon has suggested.

Katie,

I see that I was right about Colleen showing up. She is an expert on this subject and now I see that Joy is one, too. If it were legal, I would be offering them positions in my office. Then again, not sure if two southern girls would want to be "up north".

I hope that your husband has a quick recovery and that he is able to find a comfortable and functional solution to his situation.

Jerry

Jerry, if you could get the "Southern Gals" to come up north, they would just get you Yankees going in the right direction. Amy in the Ozarks [born and raised in southern Arkansas]

Amy, you are sooooooooo right about us Southern girls. I wouldn't mind going up there, but I'll bet that Joy and you and I wouldn't be coming back alone! We'd convince all those yankees just how good life can be down here! (Actually, it is now so bloomin' hot, that I wish one of our good yankee friends would invite me up there just for some relief!)(But when winter comes, y'all think of us. I don't even own a coat!)

Road Trip! Someone needs to pick me up. My doctor still says no driving. You may want to bring ear plugs with you. I've been here almost a month by myself. I might talk your ear off.

Jerry, I think this may come under the heading"Be Careful what you wish for ! Amy

Two maybe, but four, no way. Forget the offer.

It can get pretty hot up here, but there's nothing to worry about, I'm staying....I wouldn't give up the skiing.

Jerry

<pout>

I guess I'll go unpack now. :p

hmmmmmmmmmm skiing. You got me there. Is the invitation still open?? I'll pick up Joy and Amy on my way up, and we promise to be good. Joy will be all talked out by then, we promise! (Actually I DO own a coat....a ski jacket that hasn't been used in far too long!)

Sorry, Katie, we totally hi-jacked your thread. Let's get back to business. I have sent you a personal message, asking you to send me your email address. I have a good photo from a journal, which shows an obturator much like mine, and a healed mouth that is much like mine.

Again, since you asked for my opinion, I gave it. It seems that what you need to do now, depending on the extent of surgery that your husband has had, is to let him get over the trauma of the surgeries he has already had, and the trauma of the reality of his situation, and learn that he can adjust. But to go back into a surgery now seems very difficult to imagine. Of course, I don't know his situation.

How many teeth did he lose to the surgery? How many does he have remaining? How large is the opening in his palate? all of these are issues to consider when determining whether or not an obturator will be satisfactory.

Here's the best advice I can give: Ask your surgeon what prosthodontist he recommends for making obturators for his patients. Go to that person (he's a dentist who makes dentures, and other oral appliances to replace lost parts of oral structure.) and see what he says he can do for your husband. For a small fee, you will get the advice you need. Be certain that it is someone accustomed to working with cancer patients, and not just someone who makes dentures. Your surgeon probably has a practitioner that he routinely sends his cancer patients to.