My cancer was stage 2, Grade 2. I’ve been taking Letrozole, Calcium /vit D tabs and weekly alendronic acid tabs for 3.5 years. In that time my bone health has improved from borderline osteoporosis to osteopenia, ie it’s now better than the bone density for the average healthy women of my age.
However, my dentist is concerned that 3 big fillings in my back teeth could become problematic if I break a filling or tooth, i.e there won’t be enough tooth left for a new filling.
He is therefore wondering about proactively crowning these teeth now rather than risking the need to do an implant into the bone if something suddenly breaks whilst my jawbone health is possibly altered by alendronic acid.
When I last saw the oncologist he felt that the benefits of weekly alendronic acid both to my bones (and in preventing undetected cancer cells sticking to them) far outweighed the risk to me of the altered bone structure. He therefore wants to keep me on alendronic acid for as long as I am tolerating it fairly well.
Has anyone else had this dilemma regarding whether to have preventative dental treatment or not? Or just risk a future broken tooth and the need for drilling into the jaw?
Has anyone had any dental work at all done involving the jaw whilst taking weekly alendronic?
Thank you.
Hi, I am just thinking aloud and wondering if you could try cross-referencing with the phone lines when they are back to normal on Tuesday, or Macmillans, or a Maggies centre - to see if anyone actually has had first-hand experience of these kind of dental issues - I guess if you were able to access London, then possibly a referral to Eastmans Dental Hospital might be a thought? Or the maxillo-facial/specialist oral department at your own local hospital? I have no experience in this - but it’s a real trade-off isn’t it, trying to protect ourselves in one way and risking problems in another area? I am only trying to think of your peace of mind and knowing you have had the best advice possible. I hope this makes sense. Wish you all the best.
Wow, you’ve been taking alendronic acid for 5 years? What are the results after such a long time?
I had periodontitis. I still doubt the effectiveness of alendronic acid, even though it helped me. I read that to determine the effectiveness of alendronic acid in 27 adult monkeys, and periodontitis was modeled by applying a silk ligature thread infected with Porphyromonas gingivalis to the necks of the teeth, after which the clinical, periodontal and radiological state of periodontal tissues was studied. The obtained results indicate that alendronic acid significantly slows down the rate of loss of the height of the alveolar process and increases the mineral density of its bone tissue but practically does not affect the clinical course of the disease and the activity of the inflammatory process in the periodontium. The best way, of course, is to reduce the risk of such diseases by placing crowns or Mini Implant Dentures.