Joined tonight after reading some of the fantastic advice on here and such a wealth of experience.

I live in the uk and am an outdoorsy grandma ..... currently camping with granddaughter on half term holiday .

I am sure you will understand when I say I wish I was not having to be here on this forum but if I do need support then here looks like a friendly and informative place to come.

I have had jaw surgery a few years ago to resolve misalignment of jaw ( at grand old age of 52 lol) and only problems after were some residual altered sensation in chin and salivary duct stones. Recently had what I thought was a blockage again... pain and swelling along and under jaw... but worse. Did the usual salt washes and sucking citrus to no avail and in attempt to see if anything else a problem I took out my partial back denture and shone torch into thr depths!

There to my surprise was a rather necrotic looking irregular shaped ridged / indented ulcer looking nothing like regular ulcers. Its right on the gum at the back motly under where the end of the denture lies and totally painless ... if denture had caused it would surely have been agony !!!!

Went to dentist next day .... got antibiotics which seems to have sorted out swelling ... and if ulcer not gone in 2 weeks will be off for referal to hospital for biopsy.

I was a nurse so have a little savvy re medical stuff though not a lot lol.... I was a trauma bod not anything much to do with this sort of stuff .... but know enough to be aware of the possible diagnosis.eg it might be scc. I know only a biopsy will be definitive but the clinical appearance seems to hint at it !

So I see from reading here there are a couple people at least with scc on the gum which is not common ... so if I am to join the club so to speak I may be asking loads questions.

For now however maybe just a little virtual hand holding might be appreciated.

Thank you.

Laura, welcome to our family and consider your hand held. You'll find plenty of support here, and likely responses from people who've gone through a similar situation.

Waiting it out - whatever it may be - is always anxiety-provoking, so I'm not going to tell you not worry because that's only natural. But as all of us will tell you, it's not cancer until a biopsy determines that for sure. So hang in there and keep posting and asking questions.

Sending you best vibes from across the pond.

Laura, welcome to the group. Do keep an eye out for anything in the lymph nodes. The only symptoms my husband had were mouth sores and a lump in the neck. He had antibiotics and the mouth sores and the lump went away the first time. Then, ten months later, the lump returned. Hopefully, it is not scc in your case, but vigilance is the word. Good luck!

Welcome and hand holding, Laura.

Welcome to OCF! Wishing you all the best with your upcoming biopsy. Hope its nothing serious!

good luck!!!

Thank you everyone .... it helps just finding somewhere to get information as well as sensible support ... keeps one grounded lol. I have had health " scares" before with a suspicious mammogram that turned out to be a bundle of abnormal blood vessels and some abnormal but not cancerous smears ... so crossing no bridges yet...just being aware enough to get properly checked and finding out what I need to know to do so .... although thats not to say immune from the odd oh dear what if thing lol...

Just listening to dawn chorus atm and appreciating the birdsong.

See what happens in the next 2 weeks and if it's not cleared then proceed w/ the biopsy. That BTW is the ONLY way to confirm this cancer. Good luck

Mouth ulcers can be from anything, a bacterial, fungal or viral infection, neutropenic ulcers, anemic ulcers, tooth rubbing, eating rough foods, burns from foods or beverages, medications, smoking, alcohol, even mouth wash, etc. most times it's something other than cancer, but as David mentioned, if it's there for a two weeks to have it checked out. Good luck with everything

well the antibiotics seem to have cleared up the pain around / under the lower jaw and the ulcer on the alveolar ridge looks less "necrotic" so it must have been infected. The ulcer itself is not healing though despite me leaving out my partial lower denture in case it was affecting it. I put it back in after a week but it does not seem to fit properly any more and is rubbing the inside of the gum causing a blister which IS painful !

I have also a tender swelling right up where the lower jaw meets the upper at the back which the antibiotics did not help.

thanks for the info paul .... I did consider other options particularily with having alower denture...... however it did puzzle me how it could get so deep and horrible looking without causing any pain ????? I hope its one of the other causes obviously.. well anything treatable I suppose !

got a week till I have to go back to the dentist

Hi Laura, you've definitely come to the right place for good advice, and for the hand-holding too, for that matter. Not only are these folks very experienced and knowledgeable about this, but you won't find a more compassionate bunch anywhere, either!

You certainly have my best wishes for a Happy outcome, however it plays out.

Best of luck,

Bart