As I'm sure avid readers know, one of the main side effects of radiotherapy to neck & throat chappies is that your saliva glands stop producing as much. This is why the dentistry work is done first to let gums heal before the zapping begins.
Which is all very good unless you bite your own gum by mistake, on the side you use for chewing since it was left with more teeth than the other side and the ulcer you cause yourself doesn't heal quickly and complains about almost anything coming its way.
The external side-effect is that I am currently having to chew like a squirrel and am taking about 40 minutes to eat a course that would normally have gone down too fast in giant mouth fulls.
Still, at least it got me another new variety of mouthwash to supplement my 6 times a day bi-carbonate solution. Its tasty too. Though just as well to deal with the morning 'glut', as one staff nurse put it. I'm waking with a mouth that feels like a yogurt has been cooked to the inside overnight and when I brush my teeth the reaction between the yogurt and the toothpaste forms a remarkably dense foam that I'm bottling to use for cavity wall insulation.
More side effects to follow. I'm sure of it.
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