Fractured jaw from radiation - What treatment options are there?

I've decided to go with the jaw replacement/ transplant. I have a scan on 7.8.25. Hopefully they will come up with a plan soon. The pain is crippling.

I had my jaw replacement surgery done in March of '23. Mine was more of an urgent operation as I had experience radio-osteo necrosis of the lower mandible. Recovery was long due to complications from infection. If infection is present highly recommend you get this under control prior to surgery if at all possible. Post surgery I did 2 rounds (30 days each) of IV antibiotics.

Thank you! I will look in to that.

I have exactly the same symptoms of radio-osteo necrosis of the lower mandible however I cannot get the doctors to understand the severity.
I will be blowing up some phones Monday. Tried to call today and got a call back from a doctor that was not happy to be bothered on a holiday weekend.
If only the pain would take the weekend off.

I found through all of this is that you do have to advocate for yourself. What I did not share previously is the oral surgeon that originally found the necrosis when I had to have a "bad tooth" pulled attempted to resolve the necrosis with trying to resolve the situation by de-briding the jaw bone twice, coupled with 2 rounds of hyperbaric treatments (30 days each). Eventually the infection made it through the lower jaw and was creating open sores underneath my chin. Make sure you communicate what you need and the physician has the required experience to do the surgery. The surgery is 8-10 hours with 3 surgeons, general surgeon to insert the feeding tube, and trache, and 2 specialist one to do the leg bone removal while the other removes the infected jaw bone. You will need a good support team post surgery. Prayers for you going forward.

Thank you for your prayers! We do have to be our best advocates. God bless.

@pauley hello there! my name is Andrea and I think I’m dealing with the same thing. I’m also being treated at VCU and would love to hear how your surgery went!

@pauley Hope surgery goes well, keep us updated.

@ads804 Hi Andrea. I had the surgery August 2, 2025. It's been quite the journey. I was in CCU for 5 days and then a regular room for 4 more days. It's a major surgery and when I was going through the recovery, I asked myself several times if I did the right thing. Now that I'm several months out, I'm grateful I did it. I've not had any teeth since the surgery however I'm in the process of new prosthetic teeth. They did put post on my new jaw for the bottom teeth and I'm getting an upper denture. I should have my new teeth sometime in June.
I do have Lymphedema in my neck but it's under control.
All in all, looking back at everything it went very well. Drs Lee and Robinowitz are great to work with and very good at what they do.
I'm glad you reached out and please keep me posted on your journey. Also please feel free to ask me any other questions.
God bless!
Pauley

@ads804 hi and welcome. I agree with Pauley, it’s a tougher surgery but healing is much quicker than cancer recovery. And it was certainly worth it for me as well.
Some odd side effects may last a year or three but all in all, when done right by an experienced team, it’s a remarkable procedure.