Hi Velvet,
I am new to this website and have just read your message. My husband developed osteonecrosis of the jawbone after having received Zometa intravenously for about a year. It started just as you described - gum pain followed by exposed bone. I was furious when I found out it was related to the drugs he was receiving to help "keep his bones strong". I never saw anything in the literature we were given about it. Anyway, he now sees the oral surgeon every 2 or 3 weeks so she can keep an eye on it and file down the exposed bone as needed, since his tongue sometimes gets rubbed raw by it and causes him severe pain. He did have a piece of the bone break off as you did, but the oral surgeon said that was a good thing and the gum has actually grown back in that area. It has been about 5 months now since we discovered the osteonecrosis. I would love to hear from you to see how you are doing, after having dealt with this for over a year. Has your jawbone improved at all? I'm wondering what the long term effects of this disease are.
Best of luck to you,
Jodi