Sandra asked how long before the mouth ulcers would stop after her chemo/radiotherapy.

In a study (Long-term oral Candida colonization, mucositis and salivary function after head and neck radiotherapy. ) that followed the long-term effects of radiation therapy of head and neck malignancies on oral yeast colonization, mucositis and salivary function, examiner-rated mucositis and patient-rated xerostomia showed no significant recovery after 6 or 12 months. In this prospective study, 32 patients had radiation therapy of a malignancy of the head and neck. In all patients the salivary glands lay within the radiation field and the patients had at least five teeth. The first examination was performed after oral hygiene instruction and removal of questionable teeth before the start of radiotherapy. The following examinations were conducted after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months.

Question:
How long (in weeks) did it take to recover from your mucositis/mouth ulcers after the end of your radiotherapy?

Choices:
less than 5 weeks
5-8 weeks
9-12 weeks
13-16 weeks
17-20 weeks
21-24 weeks
25-28 weeks
29-32 weeks
33-36 weeks
more than 36 weeks but less than 1 year
more than 1 year

 

From the experience of the 15 participants so far:

• 8 or 54% experienced mucositis/mouth ulcers up to 8 weeks after the end of radiotherapy
• 3 or 20% experienced mucositis/mouth ulcers between 8 - 16 weeks after the end of radiotherapy.
• 2 or 14% suffered for more than 36 weeks (over 8 months)