My husband was in a similar situation -- an oral surgeon's initial biopsy of a small leukoplakia (also discovered by his dentist) showed moderate dysplasia, but a more thorough excisional biopsy by an ENT showed cancer in situ and a bit superficially invasive. A followup PET scan showed no areas of concern.

When my husband got the second biopsy results he was immediately seen by an ENT at a comprehensive cancer center. That center's pathology department reviewed and confirmed the second biopsy slides; the ENT at the CCC had all the first ENT's notes and the PET scan report. The CCC doctor said that all looked good and will be checking him regularly (monthly for the first year, every two months for the second, etc.) from here on in.

You've come to the right place -- when I discovered this site, I did a search on "leukoplakia" both on the message boards and on the main OCF site and got a lot of good information. If you've been researching this, you'll know already that in many cases, leukoplakias don't become cancerous. But they can.

You may be lucky and never have this recur again. (And you are definitely lucky in having such a proactive dentist, as others here will tell you.) But it's worth getting checked out by a specialist -- I'd recommend finding an ENT who sees a lot of oral cancer patients. Before your appointment, ask if the doctor would like the biopsy slides re-read by the lab he or she normally uses. Also see if the doctor would like the oral surgeon's notes and the reports on both biopsies sent ahead of your appointment, or whether you should bring those with you.

Here's how OCF founder Brian Hill responded when I first asked about leukoplakia (emphasis is mine):

[quote]Leukoplakia is a PRE-cancerous condition that does not always move completely into malignancy. Dysplasia are those cells which are no longer normal, but they are not really malignant yet...an in-between state, so to speak. Dysplasias also do not always go completely over to the dark side, but they are a step in that direction... and having them removed, or watched very regularly is prudent. Dysplastic leukoplakias can often return after surgical removal, many times done with a laser, sometimes via a blade excision. Keep an eye on things even after the removal from now until forever.[/quote]I hope all goes well for you.

-- Leslie