Hi,

My dad had a cancerous lump removed from his tongue and sessions of radiation to clear it, he is now over 5 years cancer free and I am doing a bit of research.

Over the past few years his teeth have started to rot away. He cannot use normal toothpaste as it burns his mouth so he has been using a childrens toothpaste since finishing the radiation. He suffers from very dry mouth and has problems eating. The food he can eat has to be soft and very moist eg. eggs, beans, mashed potatoes, soups.

A couple of days ago a chunk of his tooth came out and then he got a bad gum infection, this has cleared up but I can see things are slowly getting worse and wanted to see if anyone could recommend if reconstructive dentistry could help, knows anyone who has had it and would recommend anyone?

I have spoke to him before about the saliva stimulating lozenges to help but he is very stuborn. He doesn't like to talk about it and he doesn't like to eat infront of people and worries a lot about what people think. I want to help him get some normality back to the way he is with food and start to enjoy having dinner with friends and family again.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Elysia x

Hello Elysa

Please get a dentist to do a full dental assessment or refer your dad to the local Consultant in Restorative Dentistry for this and the treatment her needs - decayed teeth repaired or extracted and dentures made in conjunction with good oral hygiene maintaince as described in Oral Care and Radiation Therapy.

The MCF Easy to Swallow cookbook will help with ideas with eating.

Best wishes

Vinod

hi elysia
i can relate to what your dad is going through it seems as though i am permanatly at the dentist with pain and infections,the dentist told me to use duraphat toothpaste made by colgate and i get in on prescription now,the right way to use it is to keep it on your teeth for 20 minutes before rinsing but my mouth gets very sore so i never manage more than 5 mins,it has a higher flouride content i also use biotene mouth wash for the dryness at night so i'm not waking every few mins for a sip of water and i get a better nights sleep for it to be honest i will be glad to get false teeth one day as the pain does get to you and the only meds that help with the pain is tramadol but that affects my stomach something awful.i have a new dentist now who is trying to make my teeth look better by giving me fillings i have no back teth at all to eating is a real pain somedays as i guess it is for your dad too.if your dad has not tried this toothpaste it may help him or there is always the biotene toothpaste you can get from the doctor too.wishing your dad all the best.love shirl xxx