Can anyone tell me if after their treatment they had terrible bad breath. And if so, what to do..and did it go away.

Also, had anyone had dysplasia in their throat. I am used to this being in a PAP smear. Anyway, if so....how was it treated please.

Laurie

Laurie,

I am a dental hygienist and an oral cancer survivor. Most bad breath problems are caused by bacteria, frequently on the tongue. You also mention that your brother has very little saliva and a dry mouth can also contribute to bad breath. Sipping water throughout the day really helps. He should avoid sucking on mints or Lifesavers which can make the dry mouth worse. I don't know if he has teeth, but if he does, he needs to keep them exceptionally clean because his reduced salivary flow makes him very prone to decay. He should be brushing, flossing, using a Water Pik and giving himself fluoride treatments if he can tolerate it every day.

Another key to fighting bad breath is a tongue scraper. You can find them in the same place you find tooth brushes in the drug store and they come in various styles, but the kind that I find the most effective can be bent into a "U" shape and are literally scraped along the surface of the tongue from the back to the front until there is no more debris to remove. The tongue harbors a ton of bacteria and if you don't clean it, it can cause a lot of odor.

There are some good gels available to help keep the bacteria levels on the tongue low. They are available in dental offices only. If you interested, e-mail me and I can probably direct you to a dentist in Maryland who can help you or have someone send you something if you want.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Barb

Laurie, during the latter stages of my chemo and rad, I had terrible breath and did everything I could to get rid of it, which was not much since my mouth was full of sores, but I managed to hide it. That was SO stupid, because I later learned that was a sign that I had a whopping infection in my mouth, and immediately after finishing treatment, I ended up in isolation in what everyone seemed to think was very serious condition. I was so weak I didn't care one way or the other. SO... rule out infection first.

(Hi, Barb!)

Barb and Joanna, thank you so much for this info. I will relay this info to my brotehr. He doesn't have the patience to email nor the stamina to sit and type. So I am doing the asking. He is brushing regularly, flossing, tongue scraping and pretty much everything he needs to do with his mouth. In fact the Docs and Dentist are really happy with how his mouth looks. It is healing however the other day his breath was pretty bad. Just worrisome cause his breath got so bad before treatment when the tumor was growing. Bu there isn't a tumor there now and wnated to know if anyone else had bad breath after the fact.