I have been worried about oral cancer all summer. I have had burning pain on my tongue and its has been sore way in the back on the right for 6 weeks now. I feel like I am having some difficulty swallowing and shortness of breath. My parents are fed up with me and think it is ridiculous. I have been to my dentist and three oral surgeons inlcuding an oral pathologist. They all say that my mouth is healthy and there isnt a thing that even looks biopsiable. I am worried that it may be base of tongue cancer and they havnt picked up on it. What should I do this is ruining and consuming my life and I am really scared

I had tongue base cancer and was not short of breath or had trouble swallowing only a lymph node that had swelled. Having seen all those Drs. I think you can rest easy that it's probably not tongue base cancer. As far as your symtoms go you should see your primary care Dr.and take his advice. Good Luck

Adamchuck.............Now this might be a long shot and I probably shouldn't say anything because I really don't know about his first hand but.........I recently talked to a person who was having the same symptoms as you are describing and thought for sure she had tongue cancer. After waiting a whole month to get into see an ENT and worrying like crazy the ENT peeked in her mouth and said immediately "you are taking too much vitiamin A" Now, I don't know if that is what your problem is but perhaps you are unknowingly taking something that is just irritating your oral cavity, tongue specficially. Like Marliz said, if you've been to all those Doctors and not one of them sees anything wrong, you are PROBABLY safe.
However, if you still don't feel comfortable with their opinions I suppose you could always request an MRT or CT scan to make sure. Good luck! Sincerely, Donna

Over the past 2 years, I have travelled with dozens of dentists to Major and Minor League Baseball spring training camps to conduct oral cancer screenings on baseball players. One of the many things that I've learned while watching these dentists is that some will biopsy every suspicious lesion whether they think it's oral cancer or not, while other have certain pre-determined visual concepts of what oral cancer looks like. I have also learned that many lesions cannot be seen by the naked eye and that no one can accurately predict whether a lesion is cancerous or not without a biopsy. So, my suggestions is that if you have any concerns, demand that your dentist or oral surgeon perform a brush biopsy. If your dentist won't do it, find someone that will. Results are typically returned within a week.