Dental Specialist post cancer

[longball53098]

Hey all,

A brief explanation of my medical history over the past almost 3 years. I was diagnosed with tongue and neck cancer 3 years ago this coming New Year. I spent 2 weeks in the hospital (BNH Bangkok) over the holidays having tongue surgery 2x and a radical neck dissection and recovery. I had part of my right tongue removed and reconstructed from my own skin and 54 lymph nodes and my right saliva gland removed from my neck. The lab analysis showed cancer and the docs believed they had removed enough that I was free from the cancer. I also needed a tracheotomy to allow the surgeon to better work on me. About 17 days I was able to go home to further recover for 2 more weeks and then return to Bangkok for chemo/radiation therapy for 6 weeks. During my initial recovery I had a NG tube in my nose for all food by liquid form. When I began the rad/chemo I was free of the tube but about 2.5 weeks in to that my mouth hurt so much I could not eat so I had a NG tube put back in place. I lost a ton of weight during the radiation treatments. After the almost 7 weeks in Bangkok again its back home to Rayong for recovery from the radiation and chemo effects.

After almost 6 months with the NG tube I finally pulled it out and although my mouth was still a mess and my throat also I was able to start to try to eat soft liquid foods and drink the liquid diet formula. I went to BNH every so often on a follow up schedule for checking me for any signs of the cancer and general health and well being.

I will not drag this out too much so here we are now 2.5 years later. I am cancer free as far as all the MRIs and checkups go. I have recovered some of the lost weight but nowhere near I was before but not bad. The issues now are the radiation effects have lingered as well as the surgery effects. Losing about 60 percent of my mouth saliva production has caused me real issues as I have great difficulty from dry mouth and mucositis (mouth ulcers) over this last year they come and go to the point where eating any mouth food is near impossible I am losing weight again due to this. Most of the docs I see on a regular basis have no real solution to give me on why this continues so long and I am not healing more. My jaw and mouth are very hard to open due to the effects also and just a simple dental cleaning is a painstaking ordeal.

 

Why am I posting here? Well I hope someone here in Thailand can offer a dental specialist and their help to take a look at me and see if they have some solutions or recommendations for dealing with the after effects of mouth cancer and radiation effects. My ENT surgeon just keeps telling me it all takes time and in my case a long time. No one has recommended a dental specialist to deal with the mucositis. My radiation doc also says basically the same thing. I am just looking for more help. There must be a dentist that treats after cancer patients So I hope someone out there has some thoughts too.

 

Thanks for reading

 

[frequentatore]

My dentist Dr. Thantip. Very nice lady; fluent English. 5 days a week. Slow injections, almost no pain.

 

If I remember correctly, she teaches at the university. I don't know if she has ever treated after cancer patients but she will be honest with you and might recommend someone.

 

Central General Hospital in Laksi. Tel: 02 552 8777

Call a few minutes before 1:00 pm, she might take you on the phone.

[longball53098]

12 minutes ago, frequentatore said:

My dentist Dr. Thantip. Very nice lady; fluent English. 5 days a week. Slow injections, almost no pain.

 

If I remember correctly, she teaches at the university. I don't know if she has ever treated after cancer patients but she will be honest with you and might recommend someone.

 

Central General Hospital in Laksi. Tel: 02 552 8777

Call a few minutes before 1:00 pm, she might take you on the phone.

Thanks 

[Sheryl]

Took a lot of digging but seems like this lady has  the right background:

 

https://www.samitivejhospitals.com/en/doctors/aroonwan-lam-ubol/

https://www.bumrungrad.com/doctors/Aroonwan-Lam-ubol

https://www.vejthani.com/doctor/dr-aroonwan-lam-ubol/

 

(same doctor, 3 different hospitals. Doesn't matter which one. Vejthani will likely cost a little less)

 

[longball53098]

11 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Took a lot of digging but seems like this lady has  the right background:

 

https://www.samitivejhospitals.com/en/doctors/aroonwan-lam-ubol/

https://www.bumrungrad.com/doctors/Aroonwan-Lam-ubol

https://www.vejthani.com/doctor/dr-aroonwan-lam-ubol/

 

(same doctor, 3 different hospitals. Doesn't matter which one. Vejthani will likely cost a little less)

 

Thanks Sheryl I will check her out.

[Lefty]

I had back of tongue cancer ,was treated in US ,35 radiation treatments and chemo,no surgery. The problem after head/neck radiation treatments is the jaws are very brittle.Must use extreme caution when getting dental service.

Find a dentist that has experience with cancer patients.The major Bangkok hospitals would be the start of my research.

Lefty