osteoradionecrosis

A trial originally began in July 2022, but the jury was discharged the following month after Brooks was admitted to hospital, suffering osteoradionecrosis - a medical complication of radiotherapy, which required surgery.

A risk of tooth extraction after radiation therapy is the condition known as osteoradionecrosis, for which there is no cure.

Because osteoradionecrosis is rare and poorly predictable, a mandatory dental referral and clearance prior to receiving radiation to the jaw is not yet the standard of care.

In rare cases, the infections can cause the jaw to weaken and eventually fracture — an often painful disease called osteoradionecrosis, which has no known cure.

Instead, by the time he finally obtained dental coverage, the risk of osteoradionecrosis was irreversibly established.