I have some white patchiness under my tongue and they are going to do a biopsy on it next week. As it is, they are treating it for thrush, but it's not entirely characteristic of thrush since it doesn't hurt and it won't scrape off. So, they are going to do a biopsy. Are they going to cut a chunk out of my tongue to do the biopsy or are they just going to try to scrape some of this tissue off and work with that?

For mine, they surgically removed a very small piece of my tongue. Not even big enough to notice. With mine it took 2 stitches but, many times, stitches are not required. Aabsoutely no pain except the shot to deaden the area. I was eating and drinking normal the same night. Not to worry KTBUG.

Hi bug!
I had a BIG biopsy---lump removed from jaw--but I was even given a numbing 'pellet' to chew on before even getting the 'local'---it took half an hour and 4 stitches and I'm the world's biggest wuss when it comes to needles and knives---felt NOTHING but a 'tugging' inside my jaw and went home happily to my supper!
Mouth felt 'peculiar' with stitches, but managed the warm salt washes, and at least SOMETHING Had been done!!!!!!
First step on the journey!
Brenda

They took a small chunk of tongue with mine but numbed me up really well first. It hurt for about 24 hours after but wasn't that big a deal.

Nelie

In the initial biopsy, done at the dental office, the oral surgeon took only a tiny piece of the small white patch on my husband's tongue. As you can see from my signature, the results did not show cancer but warned that it could be hiding in areas not tested -- so an ENT did a more thorough excisional biopsy in an outpatient surgery center a month later and found very-early-stage SCC. In both instances my husband experienced minimal pain and had no problems, and the area healed just fine.

-- Leslie

If it won't scrape off with your fingernail, it is NOT Candida (thrush). The fact that they are still pursuing treatment of thrush given this leaves me less than confident with them. It is most likely leucoplakia. If you are a smoker, often this will resolve within a few months of tobacco cessation. If you are not, there are other means to remove it, such as laser. Leucoplakia is a precancerous condition, but of the precancerous lesions, it is the least dangerous as only about 25% of them convert to malignancy. A small incisional biopsy will define without doubt what it is, but the problem with this approach is that there can be dysplasia randomly within the leucoplakia (which is movement of the cells to the dark side), and deserves more aggressive thinking. The question arises is to where in a good size patch of white do you biopsy? It is a shot in the dark, so they usually take several samples. They still could miss something serious with this technique.

Another option is to stain the patch with Toludine blue, which is attracted to the mitochondria in dysplasia and malignant cells. That would identify an area in the white patch worthy of biopsy. As the posts above mention the only sure solution is to remove the entire thing (luckily it is superficial and does not require deep incisions and heals quickly). This allows a microscopic examination of the cells to see what