Ideally you should have gone with the initial surgery. I am not sure what you mean by base of tongue? Under the tongue? Molar related and jaw is all in the oral cavity. Therefore it is highly unlikely it is HPV related. To this end surgery would have been the correct choice from the outset. I have had 1/3 - 1/2 of my tongue removed and rebuilt with a graft from my arm, and 40 lymph nodes removed from my neck. Of all of the things done to me this was the easiest to recover from. I speak fine, eat fine, my neck is good but a little numb, and my shoulder (they do cut the neck muscles usually) works perfectly now. I am not sure what the drs were going on about with regards to the inital surgery but ideally with this cancer they remove as much as they can hopefully get clear margins, and then if need be they do radiation and chemotherapy 5-6 weeks after. These are the american standards for this type of cancer. Base of tongue (which is actually down your throat - is usually only treated with radiation and chemo first. Knowing the cause of his cancer HPV or not - is usually helpful in making this decision.

Molar, and jaw involvement can be a little more invasive where surgery is concerned but a good ENT and good plastics guy can do an amazing job.

All this is a moot point as what is done is done, so my advice is find the top cancer center and push for surgery. hugs.