I recently went to the dentist for a routine checkup and they noticed a growth on the left ventral part of my tongue. They visually saw it then used a VELscope and saw abnormal cells. I have an appointment with my PCP and he said he will be referring me to an ENT. Now obviously a bit nervous because I was a smoker for 15 years and my dad recent passed from esophageal cancer at 55 (I'm a 33 y/o male BTW).
I haven't told anyone this but I noticed it about 6 months ago and didn't think anything about it. Honestly, I forgot about it. It's definitely grown since then to about 1 cm. Does anyone have any insight on this? Am I freaking out over nothing?
Thank you for your time.

Im sorry you are stressing out over this! Hopefully you will not need our site but if you do we are here to help you as much as we can. It could be any number of noncancerous things. Only thru a biopsy can it be determined if the tumor is cancerous. The Veliscope or any other brand of detection device can only identify abnormal cells. It will not tell the physician what those cells are or if they are cancerous. Hopefully its a false alarm.

Maybe this will ease your mind, as far as I know it has not been scientifically proven that oral cancer is hereditry. Obviously having a history of smoking or using any other form of tobacco is not healthy.

Our saying goes like this... if you have a sore in your mouth for over 2 or 3 weeks and it does not heel on its own then this needs to be checked by a professional. By a professional I mean an ENT who treats many oral cancer patient, not the type of ENT who puts tubes in kids ears.

Best thing you can do for yourself is to remain calm. Any additional stress is unproductive, only making you more upset and feeling worse. Do your best to stay busy to keep your mind occupied and help the time pass. Finding an ENT, getting an appointment a biopsy and waiting a week for the results is likely to be a few weeks. So do yourself a huge favor relax and do things that make you happy.

Best wishes!!!

Thank you so much for the response. I'll be sure to update after the biopsy. I appreciate your time.