Hi Friends,

I've long been using (several times a day) the simple
baking-soda-and-salt-and-water rinse that I first read about here in a
message from Janet Wilder, and which has been posted many times by J. and
others. It's a great thing to help you deal with mucositis and the
side-effects of radiation in the the mouth and oral tissues.

I had oral surgery on Friday, January 18, to remove the last of my teeth
(all the others were removed prior to radiation for SQCC basal tongue
cancer) 10 months ago. Unfortunately the lack of saliva post-radiation, and
whatever else, led the remaining five front teeth to break off one by one,
and then one got infected. The advise of dentist, and oral surgeon, was none
could be "saved" and best to have them all out.

During the surgery the oral surgeon did some work on the jawbone itself
post-removals. I was stitched up with several stitches.

I seemed to recover well from the oral surgery, with only a few days of
severe aching easily controlled by Ibuprofen (I don't like taking opiates
since they cloud my mind).

To my surprise, almost 7 days after the surgery I awoke at 5am to find my
mouth full of blood. The bleeding lasted about fifteen minutes and I
controlled it using gauze and pressure. When I removed the gauze a very
large clot was on the gauze.

Since then I have been trying to analyze why (how) this episode of bleeding
occurred when the wound seemed to be healing fine. The only thing I can
think of are that Thursday night I rinsed a lot with the baking soda and
salt rinse because my throat was so dry. I find that a few minutes of
rinsing/gargling, followed by rinsing/gargling with distilled water,
followed by a cold soda-water beverage in ice, seems to really help my
general feeling of well-being in the throat.

Of course when I rinse, I am being careful not rinse vigorously in the front
part of my mouth where the wound is.

It would seem to me that the episode of bleeding would have occurred near
the time of rinsing, not after several hours of sleep. Of course, the reason
for the bleeding could have been some unconscious movements of the jaw
during sleep.

But I am curious if anyone here know if baking soda in itself has effect on
wound healing, hardened clots over freshly healing tissue, etc.

The "good news" I saw the oral surgeon today (Saturday, Thai time), and she
said the wound is healing well in terms of the gum tissue, but on her
advice, the stitches stay in another week (she has advised me that the bone
healing will take a few months, although I have no clear understanding of
exactly what she did to the jawbone).

Thanks !

best, Uncle Sally