Hi there and welcome. - I would get myself to a top ENT - preferably at a top cancer center. It may seem small but tongue cancer is nothing to mess with. Even the smallest amount can be highly aggressive and require extensive surgery. Usually tongue cancer is not HPV related and is treated with surgery first.

I don't want to scare you and sometimes ignorance is bliss, but someone who is educated about their health and condition can better advocate for themselves. If you nod and say yes to the drs and don't ask questions it can be a very bad thing.

Several things should take place at this point. You should have a ct/pet/or MRI - to find out if its in the lymphnodes - or has spread. You also should find out it's size and differentiation - this will tell you the staging etc - your dr should also tell you this.

If its being lasered then chances are its small, but small doesn't mean non aggressive. Some T1 lesions can move into the nodes and may not flare up until a few months later. While some T2s are just on the tongue - it all depends on you, your body, and the cancer etc. so ask questions...

Oh and in response to your question, a biopsy is a sample of tissue, sometimes a dr will take it all if its small, but its often hard for them to determine with the naked eye - what's a normal cell or a cancer cell, so often you won't be clear margins after a biopsy..

Best of luck! and kudos on the smoking.