Marvin has started having problems with his teeth. He went to our dentist who says he has a tooth that needs to be pulled along with a wisdom tooth next to it that should also come out. He sent us to an oral surgeo. We meet with him yesterday and were told that Marvin should see a specialist in Indianapolis to have HBO treatment. I was reading the other post on this and it seems to help most of the time. Has anyone had it and had problems with the gums still healing. Not sure as to how many treatments before and after yet. Of course when we first heard all this it just sent us back to thinking of all the issues we have overcome. The oral surgeon suggested to just remove the tooth that is bad and that the wisdom tooth be left in after they remove the other one because he doesn't think it will be a problem if the bad tooth is out of the way. The wisdom tooth is growing in sideways into the bad tooth.

Barb,

HBO is a hassle, but it worked wonders for me. I had 5 surgeries post-radiation trying to deal with an open sore that just wouldn't heal. No mention of HBO. Then, after moving to the Seattle-area, my new cancer specialist insisted that I have HBO treatments before surgery #6. I had 8 weeks of HBO, then the surgery. It finally worked, the wound healed. Also, my salivary glands started working again, so no more dry mouth.

It is hard to make time for daily HBO treatments for 6-8 weeks. But the results in my case made the time, effort and transportation expense worthwhile.

Ken

Barb:

Im currently doing HBO treatments. What my oral surgeon told me is the normal HBO for dental work is 20 dives before and 10 more after any dental surgery.

So far, I have completed 15 treatments. I feel so much better, my fatigue is almost gone and my jaw pain has disappeared. It does take a big chunk of time to go thru HBO. Compared to chemo, radiation and surgery this is a breeze.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Christine

Well as of today the oral surgeon wants to have Marvin's regular dentist try a root canal to see if that works instead of having to cut out his tooth. So Marvin will be going back to see him and have the cap removed to see if there is a chance to do the root canal. They think that is a better route to try first. Basically they will do the root canal (if possible) and then cut the tooth off as close to the gum as possible without cutting into the gum.

After endodonics are completed, even if the did have to remove most of the crown above the gum line, they could do a direct resin post and core, which is then cast in gold, and which is essentially a cast metal part that goes down into the tooth/roots some, and has metal now above the gum line on which they could cut a preparation and cement a crown. (that sentence has way too many commas but you get the idea) The tooth while dead, is actually ankalosed in place, making about the same as a metal implant in that spot.