Wolcott, NYFay Sedore had virtually no trouble with her teeth until she began using Fosamax. Now, she experiences extreme pain when she eats and her dentist is concerned about bone loss in her teeth and jaw.
Unfortunately, her doctor thinks the Fosamax problem is all an exaggeration.
Fay's troubles actually began a few years ago when she had surgery on her legs for reflex sympathetic dystrophy. The surgery was botched, leaving Fay with cut and damaged nerves and decreased circulation in her right leg which led to osteoporosis. In order to treat the osteoporosis, Faye's doctor put her on Fosamax in 2004.
That year and the next year, Faye's dental x-rays came back fine, showing no signs of damage. However, this year's x-ray showed a completely different story. "My dentist actually used the phrase 'significant bone loss in the jaw and teeth,'" Faye says. "He had to go back to check my previous x-rays to see if they showed any indication of possible damage, but they didn't. The change over one year was amazing."
Faye says that she is picky about her teeth, so she always takes good care of them. "My dentist said I had wonderful teeth. I have a yearly x-ray, I brush regularly, and I haven't had a cavity since I was in my 20s, around 30 years ago."
Fay's dentist was stunned by what he saw on her most recent x-ray. "He couldn't believe it," Faye says. "I had generalized bone loss in my jaw and teeth, six cavities, when before I had none, my gums were receding and there was scaling of the jaw. All this happened in one year, because my x-rays from 2005 came back completely normal."
Due to the astonishing change in Fay's jaw the dentist recommended Fay see her doctor immediately and talk to him about Fosamax, which she had now been on for two and a half years. "My dentist wrote the doctor a letter basically saying what he found in my x-ray and his concerns about the jaw bone loss and Fosamax," Faye says. "But when I saw the doctor, he hadn't read the letter - it just sat in my file. When I mentioned Fosamax and osteonecrosis, he said that my concerns about Fosamax were exaggerated, that I was probably brushing too hard and I would have to wait until my 2007 x-ray before he made any decisions." But Faye says she had been caring for her teeth the same way since she was in her 20s so she does not believe the problem lies in how she brushes her teeth.
Faye finally managed to convince her doctor to change her prescription, so she is now taking Actonel but has only been doing so for a week. She says she has significant pain when she tries to eat or drink things that are hot, cold, sweet, or sour and when she brushes her teeth.
Her next x-ray is scheduled in the spring of 2007, so Fay will have to wait until then to find out how much the damage to her jaw has progressed. "I'm worried that I'm going to lose my teeth and have to put in false ones," Fay says. "I'm not old enough for that yet. Not when I've taken such good care of my teeth for so long."
If you or a loved one have experienced osteonecrosis or jawbone death after taking Fosamax, please contact a [Fosamax] lawyer who will evaluate your claim at no charge.