saliva gland repair

My father has recently finished up chemotherapy and radiation for cancer found in his lymph nodes in his throat. Due to the radiation on his throat, it became extremely difficult for him to eat, and a feeding tube was put in to help him maintain his weight. Now that he is done with treatment, the feeding tube will come out but he is still having problems with eating due to the lack of saliva. His doctor basically told him he would have to deal with this for about 6 months. I was wondering if anyone knew of any ideas to help him, other that to eat wet food, or to drink water with each bite.
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[denisdt]

I had laryngeal cancer last year and had chemo and radiation. The throat is a major gland area, lymph nodes, saliva glands, thyroid etc. The no saliva thing is the most common, the saliva glands get nuked. Does it come back? to some extent it might, I have about 50% and my onc doc says that may be it. use biotene toothpaste and gargle with biotene mouth wash 3 times a day. This really helps, but never be too far away from a bottle of water. Denis