#58653 07-11-2006 09:45 AM | Joined: May 2006 Posts: 137 Senior Member (100+ posts) | OP  Senior Member (100+ posts)
Joined: May 2006 Posts: 137 | I'm seeing a dentist tomorrow who is insisting on full mouth x-rays as part of the initial consultation. Since I've just gone through 6 weeks of radiation, including head/neck x-rays once a week, I'm wondering what are the risks for ORN or other bad effects from the additional radiation? What is the lifetime max? Where can I find out?
Many thanks,
Riley
dx 2/13/06. modified radical neck dissection 3/9/06 multiple biopsies of upper airway and direct laryngoscopy. 1 of 47 lymph nodes positive for metastatic undifferentiated carcinoma (lymphoepithelioma). Unknown primary. Finished radiation 5/24/06.
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#58654 07-11-2006 10:47 AM | Joined: May 2006 Posts: 137 Senior Member (100+ posts) | | OP Senior Member (100+ posts)
Joined: May 2006 Posts: 137 | Never mind. My RO's office finally called back and said 'there's no limit to dental x-rays-you can have all you need'.
dx 2/13/06. modified radical neck dissection 3/9/06 multiple biopsies of upper airway and direct laryngoscopy. 1 of 47 lymph nodes positive for metastatic undifferentiated carcinoma (lymphoepithelioma). Unknown primary. Finished radiation 5/24/06.
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#58655 07-11-2006 04:41 PM | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 4,918 Likes: 67 OCF Founder Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | OCF Founder Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 4,918 Likes: 67 | Just as a side note: radiation doses are lifetime accumulative, so everything that you get; treatments, all your follow up scans, dental xrays, etc. all add up. Assuming that you get follow up scans the rest of your life after treatment it all adds up. At some point in time radiation begins to cause its own malignancies. For instance by year ten of survival, approximately 3% of all patients with the maximum treatment levels of radiation develop osteosarcomas of the mandible. This study and statistic was done before the mass implementation of IMRT, so hopefully these numbers will go down. Many dentists now have digital xray machines that expose you to 1/10th the amount of radiation of normal dental xrays. If your dentist doesn't have one of these machines, another dentist in town does have it. As to lifetime doses and more, I am going to leave those answers to Gary who has forgotten more about radiation than I know.
Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.
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#58656 07-11-2006 05:19 PM | Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 2,606 Likes: 2 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 2,606 Likes: 2 | I ask and the dentist(s) tell me not to worry since it is such a small dose. If they don't use digital, I opt out. If you are on regulary CAT scans versus PET/CT your exposure is even greater.
Ed
SCC Stage IV, BOT, T2N2bM0
Cisplatin/5FU x 3, 40 days radiation
Diagnosis 07/21/03 tx completed 10/08/03
Post Radiation Lower Motor Neuron Syndrome 3/08.
Cervical Spinal Stenosis 01/11
Cervical Myelitis 09/12
Thoracic Paraplegia 10/12
Dysautonomia 11/12
Hospice care 09/12-01/13.
COPD 01/14
Intermittent CHF 6/15
Feeding tube NPO 03/16
VFI 12/2016
ORN 12/2017
Cardiac Event 06/2018
Bilateral VFI 01/2021
Thoracotomy Bilobectomy 01/2022
Bilateral VFI 05/2022
Total Laryngectomy 01/2023
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