Thanks for all who responded regarding my question of Trismus. Seems I was mistaken following almost 3 hours at the oral surgeon's office today. I had an appt. for next week but got a call this morning that they could see me this afternoon, last minute, and I took advantage of it. I met with the oral surgeon who extracted the wisdom tooth in November and long story short, it seems as though I have the early stages of Osteoradionecrosis after all. Even after going through 30 hyperbaric oxygen treatments it seems that I have fallen into the "somewhat less than 5%" who still might contract the problem even with HBO treatments. Xrays were compared, today's with mid-November's, and the Doc pointed out to me the visible change for the worse in the bone structure where the wisdom tooth once lived. He went on to tell me that 8 of 10 oral surgeons would recommend 30 days on an antibiotic and then have another look but that he was one of the 2 of 10 who says let's attack it now. Bottom line, I am now scheduled for surgery next Tuesday for him to go in and do what has to be done.

It just seems that the "shoes keep falling" even after Tx but again I feel that all of this could have possibly been avoided if I had been screened orally last year prior to treatment. I would almost bet it would have been recommended that the problem wisdom tooth be removed at that time prior to treatment. For that reason I would again like to emphasize to everyone facing treatment to make sure that an oral/dental screening is done.

Bill D.

Bill: We can relate to your frustration...Buzz just lost one of his 'caps' from one of the FEW jaw teeth (on the opposite side from his surgery) he has left to chew his food...getting it fixed tomorrow morning...but, I wonder if this is going to be an ongoing problem because of the IMRT and chemo...we'll wait and see.
Keep us posted. We DO care!

Lois & Buzz

Just as an aside Jerry--is 600mg ibuprofen up to 4 times a day a usual dosing schedule??????????
I feel guilty taking 400mg up to 3 times a day!

Brenda

Brenda - until Jerry gets to you, when my son was taking Ibuprofen, (way more than 1200mg per 24 hours) I talked to the nurse at the doctor's office who said too much could damage the liver and suggested holding it down to 1500/24 hrs. I had to keep strict records of all the meds and had to hide the Ibuprofen in my car and just give him a small amount when I left at the end of the day! But you know, everyone is different so checking with a doctor would be best. You have a right to the best when it comes to pain management.

Brenda i have been taking 600 mg for years for my ankle injury.Recently when i hurt my back i was taking 800 at a time . my GP said 1600 per 24 hours was ok.

love liz

they told me anytime you have radiation this will be an ongoing issue for the rest of your life, the tissues will always try to tighten so you must be diligent with exercising your mouth daily - a few times a day to keep it moving. easier to keep it going that to get back what is lost.

mine this past week started to lock up some on me, so i am working to get it back and not let it do it again.

best wishes

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.