I had oral surgery to remove a tiny malignant spot under the tongue in 2001. The primary source of nutrition is Ensure+.

They cut off a huge part of my tongue. All teeth were removed before surgery to facilite under-jaw access to all nodes. The laryngec- tomy considerably narrowed the throat. All combined, I am unable to chew and then swallow food.

Has anyone out there faced the same problem?

Hi, I haven't had that problem myself but there are people on here who have. I'm sure they'll be in touch. Welcome anyway. Hagg.

My mum is having similar problems.

The surgery changed the shape of her mouth and her dentures don't fit properly now, so she has great difficulty chewing anything.

She is fed through a Naso gastric tube, but is able to eat small amounts of "sloppy" food, like soups, weetabix with lots of milk etc.

Hello Winnie

DO NOT THROW AWAY THE DENTURES! They can be modified and refitted much easier than remaking new ones.

Best wishes
Vinod

Good afternoon Winnie,
I had similar problems to your mum, the first operation three and a half years ago involved the removal of a good deal of my lower jaw and the reconstruction was such that it is not possible to make a lower denture so I cut food into small pieces and developed a technique of crushing the food against the teeth of my upper denture with my tongue .However unlikely this sounds it can be made to work quite well.I tend to drink more when I am eating which I use as an excuse about my red wine consumption!!
The second cancer (six months later) was in the cheek and the removal did not create additional problems but two years later a third cancer appeared at the side of the upper jaw and when this was removed the existing denture was quite useless so for a month or two I was back to the softer stuff.When things had settled down I saw the reconstructive consultant at Pinderfields ( Dr. Joshi)and he made a new denture for me. Because of the redesigned upperworks it was not possible to make a denture which was a good fit so I have to use fixative, but all in all I am back to enjoying food again.Your mum should see the reconstructive dental consultant to investigate the possibility of a new denture.
I see that you live in Yorkshire, Dr. Joshi is the consultant at Pinderfields (Wakefield) and St. Lukes Bradford.
Think about this, Winnie,and if you have any questions go ahead and ask.please give my best wishes to your mum. None of realise how difficult it is to remaster a fundamental function such as eating until it becomes necessary.
Keep Smiling
John

whilst I was messing about typing a message I see that Dr. Joshi sneaked in, in front of me, he must type much faster than me
J

no, i just type less!

Thanks all.

John - my mum is a patient of Dr Joshi's and will go to see him again in the New year, it's just the interim period that she's struggling with.

Hi,
I can't chew either. (Bet Deb's and Angie are surprised at that as they both think my mouth works overtime!!!!!!!!!!)
Left hand side jaw and teeth gone, half my tongue still numb with limited movement and jaw out of alighnment.
I did get a brace made by the dental surgeon which helped with the chewing motion a little but then because of the space it took up on the upper palate and the way my tongue now moves I could not swallow what I had managed to half chew. A no win situation.
I now manage like John did too, by squashing what I can against my teeth with my tongue. (It does actually help to exercise the nerves and muscle in the tongue which were damaged during surgery) A win, win, one I think.
SusieR
P.S. And of course a glass of red will aid digestion