I've had three follow up appointments with the oral surgeon since the tooth extraction in early October. The bottom line is that the healing process on the outside of my gum line is way behind schedule. The tissue on the inside of my gum line is just about totally healed. The hyperbaric oxygen treatments plus the extraction were Plan "A"--the most conservative route in trying to fight the osteoradionecrosis (ORN) in my lower left jaw.
As of today, that Plan has about a 50/50 chance of succeeding. The doctor is giving it another three weeks before Plans B or C are considered.
Plan B would have this oral surgeon dig down a bit into my jaw until she finds healthy bone tissue, fill it in with something akin to Liquid Nails, and then hope the soft tissue can grow over that. No way to know yet how much she would have to dig out (and then how much Liquid nails she would use). The hopeful result would leave me enough healthy and fortified bone tissue in my jaw to let me function pretty much normally.
Plan C is even much more drastic. A different kind of oral surgeon would take out an entire section of my jaw and then either insert a metal plate or graft some bone from another part of my body--probably a tibia. The metal plate would provide more short-term protection to that area. The bone graft is less protective in the short term, but better in the long term, since it's my own tissue--and I would avoid setting off airport security warnings before every flight.
The point that I heard very clearly today is that the ORN will continue to be degenerative until all of the dead bone is gone and normal blood flow returns to that area--waiting it out is not a long-term option and the oral surgeon was seriously thinking of abandoning Plan A now and going on to B or C immediately.
Sorry for the graphic descriptions, but that's my introduction to a call out to Team Mike--I need your good vibes over the course of the next three weeks, to help me heal from the ORN naturally and avoid the other two options. The good news in the meantime is that I have only a low level of pain, so the 3-week wait isn't bad that way.
Terry and I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving--and as I have in the last few years, will show additional thanks for being a cancer survivor, on top of everything else that's good in my life.
mike
