Hep C and dental issues!

The only association between HepC and dental issues that I'm familiar with from experience is the drugs I was given to cure the virus. I was given interferon and ribavirin for 72 weeks ending in June 2010. The virus is undetectable to this day, August 25, 2017 but so are most of my teeth. I now have 12 teeth left. Six top front teeth and 6 front bottom teeth. Prior to treatment, my teeth /oral health would have been described as excellent which my dentist of 30+ years stated in his letter to my insurance company, Aetna Life Insurance Company. Neither Roche nor Aetna want to pay for the damage. Back in late 2009 and 2010 I couldn't find any information on the internet to confirm what I suspected was the cause for the change in my oral health. Crowns failed, teeth broke and now it's embarrasssing as hell to open my mouth. Had I known then what I know now, I would have never traded my teeth to rid the virus at that point in time because of the many other newer drugs being developed. I had lived with the virus for almost 40 yrs without any problems so why not wait for another 4 or 5 years and be treated with Harvoni and still have all my teeth and forfeit the hell I went thru for 72 weeks. I'm still pissed. Interferon and ribavirin was the gold standard back then but even to this day, Roche denies their drugs rot teeth. I know there are many other people like me that have had dental issues but not this forum or anyone else will aggressively go after these drug manufactures and insurance companies for NOT stepping up and taking care of those people who have incurred life long damage to their oral health. Since Aetna paid for the interferon and ribavirin I assumed the drugs were safe, but they want nothing to do with paying the cost to restore my teeth. So be very careful before you let anyone talk you into trading your teeth to rid the HepC virus. If anyone knows of an attorney who has persuaded Aetna or Roche to do the right thing, that information would be awesome and greatly appreciated.

Hello Exactionan96 and rg01! Thank you for sharing those experiences with us. I'm so sorry to hear that you've had such a struggle with your oral health during and post-hep C treatment. While it may be a messy battle to restore your oral health, I did find a few articles that I thought you may be interested in, and that will show you that you are far from being alone in this battle. You can find these here https://hepatitisc.net/living/tips-for-teeth-care-during-treatment/ https://hepatitisc.net/living/messy-mouth/ https://hepatitisc.net/story/biggest-mistake-life/ https://hepatitisc.net/story/am-i-unusual/ You can also reach out to the authors of some of these stories and articles via the comments or private messages to see how they handled their teeth concerns post-treatment. Please keep us updated on this situation, and I hope others will chime in on how they were able to work towards resolving this!! Best wishes, Casey (HepatitisC.net Team)

After being diagnosed with HepC I was positive for 6 years before getting treatment. During these 6 years I had to get all of my teeth removed and until reading your article I never related it to having the virus. Wow. Now my dental situation wasn't the greatest in the world but for the years up to getting diagnosed I was getting fillings and teeth cleaning and my teeth in general was not to bad. Maybe your on to something here.

Hi there
I had the Interferon / Rabivirin treatment from 2005 2006 which made me very ill. I contracted Hep C geno typd 1b via nhs blood transfusions in 1988. Not diagnosed until 2003 even though I had acute hosoitalised jaundice 1991 and the my gall bladder removed 2004 even tho I kept complaint of pain on my right side under rib cage ?? No gall stones lol. Anyway 2005 liver biopsy showed fibrosis level 3 and some portal blockage pre treatment. After the treatment which was hellish my health never really returned fully even tho I was 'cured many of the side effects remained in particular fatigue and cognigitive problems. Also I was told by my dentist there was a lot of bone loss. My gums where receeding badly and bleeding when touched.....still do. There is not enough bone to have screw in replacements. I know it was the medication that caused it. 12 yrs on.......still feeling under the weather intermittently flu like symptoms and terrible memory loss etc etc. Lost my career home and marriage. It's great there are better treatments out there that hopefully will not be so destructive.😉