Painful toothache in women turns out to be a dangerous cancer

The woman was left toothless after the unchecked toothache turned out to be cancer.

Nicole Kowalski, 28, began experiencing mouth pain for the first time in 2017.

A student from Los Angeles, California went to see a dentist, but was brushed and said he had nothing to worry about.

Six months later, the pain only got worse and was so bad that Nicole couldn’t sleep.

She returned in January 2018, but this x-ray showed that her upper jaw was missing bone. The dentist referred the student to an oral surgeon. An oral surgeon performed a biopsy and found that Nicole had a rare benign tumor in her mouth.

The mass was not fatal, but the blonde had to undergo surgery to remove it, which involved removing her four teeth.

She was given an embolus to use and a prosthetic retainer was attached to the hole in her mouth after surgery. Despite the need for this medical product, which she cannot eat or talk to, it is considered “unnecessary” by the US healthcare system.

Unfortunately, this surgery was not the end of Nicole’s misery.

At a medical examination two weeks later, doctors discovered that she had salivary gland cancer.

Nicole said:

“I thought about my age and everything I wanted to do. I felt tremendous loneliness.

“It started with a toothache. The dentist told me there was nothing to worry about, but in the next six months the pain increased and spread to my jaw and face.

“I couldn’t sleep very hard. After a few visits to the doctor, a dentist’s X-ray revealed some bone loss.

“Biopsy revealed that I had a benign tumor. It was in my upper right jaw and I had surgery to remove it.

“The doctor removed four teeth and part of my soft palate, and I was given my embolus to fill the defect and replace the tooth.

“It wasn’t until I returned for a follow-up appointment that I was misdiagnosed and realized I had salivary gland cancer.”

After that, a month of radiation therapy was given, and side effects such as trismus (also called lockjaw) occurred, and the muscles cramped.

As a result, Nicole was barely able to open his mouth and had to undergo not only speech therapy but also physiotherapy for the jaw.

Despite the severe radiation, the cancer recurred in December 2019, revealing that the blonde jawbone was dead.

Another surgery removed seven more teeth, including the anterior teeth.

Nicole said:’I spent a month attending radiation therapy and still experienced severe pain.

“One year after the first round, my teeth started to slip, which wasn’t normal and my doctor thought my bones could be dead. This could be a side effect of the treatment. There is.

“I went back for surgery, removed most of the remaining soft and hard palate, and had seven more teeth. This was followed by further radiation therapy.

During this time, Nicole also experienced setbacks in her personal life as her 10-year-old husband broke up during this time.

In August of this year, at least so far, scans of young women were also cancer-free.

However, pain and trismus (even if alleviated) remain and she still has to use obstruction devices daily.

Nicole said:’For now, my scan is clear, the pain is much dull, and it’s no longer so intense. You need to get a new embolus this month.

“Trismus is a condition that affects someone’s ability to open their mouth.

“I can only open my mouth 9 mm wide. It’s difficult to eat and talk and I have to stretch my chin every day.

“I use a tongue depressor to take advantage of my jaw, which is open 4-5 times a day. I also attend speech therapy twice a week and have an entire kit to keep my mouth clean. I will.

“The divorce last year has hurt my health as well as my personal life. It shocked me because we were together for 10 years.

“I wouldn’t have been an independent person without that relationship, but we were amicably divorced. I’m very lucky to have him as a friend.”

Since then, she has found a love with a new man, Eric, and has returned to her active social life with a new love for hiking.

Nicole said:’I met Eric last year, and falling in love with him was magical. I feel like the luckiest person in the world who has been able to welcome him as my partner.

“We didn’t know each other for a year, but during the second surgery, Eric spent every day at the hospital with me, making sure he had everything he needed.

“It’s still clear how much he loves and supports me.

“It’s okay to feel what you’re feeling. If you need to mourn, cry, or scream, do it.

“People try to tell you what to do, how to fix things, how to feel, and when to get back to work, but they listen to you and remain positive.

“This disease has changed everything in my life and the way I see the world. I didn’t know that this cancer exists.”