Oral Lichen Planus: How do you cope with it?

Thanks njh516 for your input and sharing your experiences.

78 yr old female with oral Lichen Planus. Teeth have recently started to crack and decay and painful. Went to dentist for
Consultation. Sugestions were implants or full dentures. My concern is the extraction
Of all teeth as they are all bad. Also have had breast cancer with radiation and suspect radiation might have affected teeth. I need to get my teeth fixed soon. Any suggestions? The implant route is very long.

I’m 70 and also dealing with a similar situation due to gastrointestinal issues causing severe decay. I have had the right upper top removed awake with novocaine. I did feel lots of pressure but no pain. He left one tooth to connect an Essix bridge which is streaky used for esthetic looks only.

I need my entire top removed but I’m doing as needed in 4 extraction increments. Yes, my next section will be top left and that’s it for smiling. I’m doing it this way because I’m healing very slowly. I don’t feel I can do it at once and have an upper denture inserted immediately.

I have had two consults for inplants and both say with bone loss, I’m not a candidate for inplants. I was not considering my entire top due to cost. I was considering the new upper denture secured with 4 inplants, still quite costly.
I’m going old school dentures. At my age and health issues I will make this work. I don’t feel feel that I will be in hiding for a few weeks to heal once I have the front done. I hate it all, but who wouldn’t.

It always seemed wise to me to let the gums heal before dentures go in. How did the extractions on your upper right affect your OLP, if it all? Flares?

I ended up with a severe herpes 1 outbreak, but this happens every time I have dental anything. I’m allergic to the anti virals so they actually put my husband on a small dose daily. He is also positive. Makes sense we have been married for 52 years. I get it from a kiss. He has never had even a cold sore but tested positive. I get it constantly and severe.
I took about 8 weeks to heal. It felt like raw tissue and eating was difficult. I really need to chew my food well because of my digestive issues so this is taking it longer to eat. I’m disgusted with it all because I was fortunate and had nice teeth in appearance.
I’m borderline Sjogrens too but have so many drug allergies I’m not bothering with a lip biopsy because I’ll probably be allergic to meds. I wish a doctor would figure out why a person is allergic to so so many meds.

I discovered that the medicine I was taking caused the oral lichen planus.
I researched OLP for a cause. A list of medications that can cause it was found.
My hydroxychloroquine was on the list so I stopped taking it and my mouth is much better.

@SusanEllen66 Wow! That’s really strange! Have you told your doctor yet? Love to know his response!

That is something I’ll look into. I never heard of that and stopping that med did the trick for you. Was it easy to replace that med with one that didn’t bother you.

@becsbuddy no, my Rheumatologist prescribed the drug, and I just stopped it last week. I want to see if that really is the answer…

@mothermary1 I just did this last week. The drug eased joint pain, and I’m hoping to get by without it.