I am new to this site, unfortunately not to the cancer world. My oldest son was diagnosed at 20 with a rare lymphoma, and subsequently had a bone marrow transplant. He is now four years post transplant. Now today my youngest son who is now 23 went to the dentist and she says he has a black spot on a gum and a white spot on his cheek (both very small) and it could be cancer....I'm like omfg!! If you read stuff on the web it can be scary...I have learned that the best resource is those who are dealing with the same thing. So, I have a few questions...1) is oral cancer common in young adults? 2)What is the prognosis for early stage oral cancer? 3) What do you recommend our next steps should be? (I have already made an appointment with an oral surgeon for Monday). 4) Do you suggest if it turns out to be cancerous to go to a major cancer center? Any adivice is much appreciated.

Welcome to OCF. Im sorry you are finding it necessary to find this site, but you have found the best site for info on oral cancer. Sadly, your son is not too young to have oral cancer. There was a young girl here a few years back who was just 18 and I met a gentleman who is a 16 year survivor, he was diagnosed at 17 years old. As the mother of 2 young adults myself, I know you must be devastated by this. Dont worry we will help guide you thru the medical maze if you find that it is cancerous.

You have done the best thing by making an appointment immediately with an oral surgeon. It will probably be a 3 step process there. First an exam and consultation. Second the biopsy. Third visit will be the results. The biopsy can be done 3 ways, asleep, with a local numbing agent or awake without anything. Ive done it all 3 ways and if I had to do it again, I would pick awake without anything. The doc will only take a teeny tiny snip of tissue to send to the lab. It will take about a week for the results to come back.

Next IF and I do mean IF, it does turn out to be cancer then you will want to seek out a cancer center for treatment. Oral cancer is not on of the big ones so not every facility is experienced enough with it to be able to treat a patient like a large cancer center would. It is not cancer til the biopsy says it is. Of course everyone in your family is upset by this turn of events, thats natural but do try to stay busy to help keep your minds off worrying.

Lets not worry about statistics in regards to his prognosis. Statistics are just numbers. He is young which will help him to fight this IF it does turn out to be oral cancer. If your son was a tobacco user, now is the time to quit. This is his wake up call. Another thing that will help is if he is using a strong mouthwash like Listerine, that will just irritate any open sore. Better to rinse with a mixture of 16 oz warm water, 2 tsp salt and 2 tsp baking soda. Repeat several times per day.

How long has the sores been there? If it has been longer than 2 weeks then it is time for a biopsy. There are all kinds of different things a open sore can be besides cancer. I wish you the very best with this. Please dont hesitate to ask any questions you come up with.

Comprehensive Cancer Centers...
http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/resources/cancer_centers.htm

Best Hospitals...
http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals

Thanks for your response...I know from past experience that those dealing with this is the best resource. The two spots the dentist talked about are extremely small, almost not visible. One is a small white spot on the cheek and the other is an even smaller spot on a gum. He says the dark spot has been there a few months and the cheek well he doesn't know. I read about other possible symptoms and when I asked if he had them he said no...I guess it's a good sign. I've learned from my older son that if it turns out to be something, that a cancer center is crucial. My oldest son was diagnosed in life threatening condition and was hospitalized for two months before I could get him to a cancer center. We went to Sloan in NYC..I wish I had had him transferred sooner as Sloan pointed out the oncologist from the hospital had him on a old protocol and not the best for his type of cancer. He subsequently relapsed in the brain and needed a bone marrow transplant, at that time we went to MD Anderson in Texas. MD Anderson is a great place and I credit them for my son's life today...However, IF this turns out to be something we will probably head to Boston, as Houston is 1,800 miles from home. My oldest son everything initially moved very quickly for the cancer world because of his condition. I know also from experience that the cancer world usually moves rather slowly. Of course once you've had to deal with cancer in the family any time someone mentions "could be cancer" you tend to jump right on it. Thanks for responding....

Sue