Dentures plus implants after radiation

Thank you for sharing this with me. I’m sorry you’ve had to go through this. Good Luck with your surgery and Recovery. I’m praying for you to have a completely successful surgery and recovery and no more ORN. Please Keep us updated as you progress

Hi Mike. I'd be hesitant about the two implants. The radiation can really mess with your mandibles. My advice (non-professional) is to talk with your Oncologist or GP as to what they think your body can handle. Particularly this close in time from treatments, you are far from fully healed in my opinion.
I understand that a soft food diet is not pleasant every day. But please proceed with caution. Hopefully someone else in this group has more experience with denture work. Good luck, and good courage.

Have you got dentures ? What did you decide on

I’m 62 and completed 33 rounds of radiation on my right tonsil after finding tonsil cancer after having it removed. I completed radiation on May 30, 2024. My dentist pulled a molar on this side in June of 2025. My oncologist was frustrated that he was not involved in the decision. I currently have another molar on bottom right that has a failed root canal which needs removed and a molar on the upper left with the same situation. My dentist referred me to an oral surgeon. Between the two they want me to pull an additional 3 more teeth. I’ve gotten second opinions from my periodontist and endodontist and will meet again with the oral surgeon next week. The oral surgeon and my oncologist are strongly recommending hyperbaric oxygen treatments HBOT to help stimulate red blood cells and promote healing, and to aid in not developing ORN. Ironically the endodontist wasn’t as enthusiastic about this as a necessity, the tooth I had pulled last year healed fine. My oral surgeon seems to think implants on the radiated side will be fine. I find it interesting that doctors, dentists, oncologist and the like don’t seem to have the same theories about dental work on those of us who have been through radiation of the head and neck. I have root canals in my front two teeth (hit with a softball when I was 18 and still have the teeth) I’m concerned if one breaks off that I will need to do HBOT again if I want to do implants on those teeth, the oncologist says the front 8 teeth should be fine without it if the need arises for implants in those teeth.
I’m on the same page as the other person who posted about not knowing about the dental ramifications after radiation, I feel like my oncologist barely brought this up prior to treatment and my dentist had no suggestions, I see through some of these feeds that some were encouraged to do fluoride trays after radiation.
Hope this might help someone going through anything similar.

@lanig Keep in mind, all those you have involved in these issues likely have limited to zero experience in cancer treatment and damage from same in dental damage. And I mean all including the oncologist. The question to ask is what the specific experience these professionals have in dealing with your specific needs. Everyone and I mean everyone involved in my care had zero previous experience with radiation to the mandibles and teeth. This should explain why they know not what they are doing.

@lanig Keep in mind, all those you have involved in these issues likely have limited to zero experience in cancer treatment and damage from same in dental damage. And I mean all including the oncologist. The question to ask is what the specific experience these professionals have in dealing with your specific needs. Everyone and I mean everyone involved in my care had zero previous experience with radiation to the mandibles and teeth. This should explain why they know not what they are doing.

I’m 62 and completed 33 rounds of radiation on my right tonsil after finding tonsil cancer after having it removed. I completed radiation on May 30, 2024. My dentist pulled a molar on this side in June of 2025. My oncologist was frustrated that he was not involved in the decision. I currently have another molar on bottom right that has a failed root canal which needs removed and a molar on the upper left with the same situation. My dentist referred me to an oral surgeon. Between the two they want me to pull an additional 3 more teeth. I’ve gotten second opinions from my periodontist and endodontist and will meet again with the oral surgeon next week. The oral surgeon and my oncologist are strongly recommending hyperbaric oxygen treatments HBOT to help stimulate red blood cells and promote healing, and to aid in not developing ORN. Ironically the endodontist wasn’t as enthusiastic about this as a necessity, the tooth I had pulled last year healed fine. My oral surgeon seems to think implants on the radiated side will be fine. I find it interesting that doctors, dentists, oncologist and the like don’t seem to have the same theories about dental work on those of us who have been through radiation of the head and neck. I have root canals in my front two teeth (hit with a softball when I was 18 and still have the teeth) I’m concerned if one breaks off that I will need to do HBOT again if I want to do implants on those teeth, the oncologist says the front 8 teeth should be fine without it if the need arises for implants in those teeth.
I’m on the same page as the other person who posted about not knowing about the dental ramifications after radiation, I feel like my oncologist barely brought this up prior to treatment and my dentist had no suggestions, I see through some of these feeds that some were encouraged to do fluoride trays after radiation.
Hope this might help someone going through anything similar.

@hrhwilliam so true .. there is the dentist side looking on from a dentist perspective, and the oncologist looking on from a cancer survivor perspective. Prior to starting radiation, the dental clinic in PMCC handled all my dental cares, but after treatment I went back to my regular dentist - but, when I required implants in upper front, my oncologist said NO, but my dentist said YES - I had them communicate with each other --- I ended up with implants !!