Tamoxifen side effects

Hi Catchpole

Sorry to hear that you are having problems with sensitive gums at the moment. It isn't something I have any experience of, but wanted to reply to your post so that you knew someone was listening. 

I'm sure one of the members of this group will reply with some advice or be able to direct you to relevant information before too long. 

In the meantime, I just wanted to let you know that we do have a dentist available in Ask an Expert section of the website. You are welcome to ask any questions there if you want to and you usually get a reply within a couple of working days. The link is here Ask a dentist. From a quick look just now, there do seem to have been a few people asking about similar issues so you might find it helpful to have a browse.

Hope you feel more comfortable soon.

Take care

Sue x

Hi Sue,

Thank you ive mailed a question, Its very worrying as ive always had near perfect teeth and gums, I take after my dad who died at 98 with all teeth intact,  My dentist when I mentioned last time that I was on tamoxifen and off HRT which id been on years so basically having another menopause, didn't seem to know much about it which surprised me, Im off to see him tomorrow again and ill get a lecture so I wanted to find out as much as I can,  What else can I do my dental hygene is perfect, I floss,clean, rarely eat sweets except dark chocolate and im trying the CoQ - 10 items,  Hopely the dentist link here can she some light on it, Thanks for informing me,i can live with most "getting old" things, NOT losing my teeth or going greylol 

June

Yes, I had the same with Tamoxifen and my dentist suggested a "deep clean". I had to stop taking the Tamoxifen due to many other side effects but my dentist was certainly aware of this.

Hi Lynn,

Thank you I guessed it must be that as ive never had gum problems was a bit surprised my dentist didn't know much about this, as he must have had experience of it,. Im off to dentist tomorrow, am hoping the supplement and toothpaste im using helps because I cant really increase my dental hygene, its as good as it gets now, I had bloating taking 20mg tamoxifen and join paint a bit, but now I take 2 10mg ones, at different times  still get a bit bloating but it is much better, My problem is due to my high osteoporosis risk I cant take any other hormonal tablets as they can thin bones  so it has to be tamoxifen.

June

Hi June, might not be the same thing but after 12 mths on tamoxifen my dentist noticed (via X-rays) I'd lost some bone density around my teeth/gums in my upper jaw. My dental health is good and this hasn't caused any issues (yet). Both tamoxifen and Letrozole, which I changed onto about a month ago, do have an impact on your bone health, particularly in the jaw apparently! so maybe related!

Amanda

Hi Amanda,

I do hs regular x rays and think about due for one so as seeing dentist tomorrow I will mention ,its so unexpected for me as ive never had any dental problems at all, Have to say my teeth luckily still seem very firm  so hopefully the measures ive taken will help.

Bit difficulft for me as said if I took any other hormonal drug id have to take more drugs to prevent osteoporosis  which ive high risk of due  to early menopause, which is I why I took HRT so long, my mum had osteoporosis very badly and ive thin bones anyway,. I tried those drugs wasn't happy with them at all.

Junex

Im having so many issues with my teeth in general after being on tamoxifen.  Its driving me insane.  Teeth breaking and having to come out - 4 gone so far....and nhs won't help to replace them :-( . Devastated - i have cheekbones to die for now but i hate them - feel like my face is collapsing.  And the teeth sensitivity - i get spells where every tooth in my head is sensitve for weeks on end.  At the end of my tether.

Hi, 

Sorry to hear this. I haven’t experienced anything like this but did have a headache, later diagnosed as a migraine by the oncologist, that lasted for 5 days and my teeth became very sensitised on one side too. I’m hoping it won’t happen again and have some pain killers for migraine set aside.

Does your dentist think the tamoxifen is the cause? Is there anything that will help?

Best wishes.