Members,
I am back again to this forum. I am now again scared. This is my problem.

It started about 8 weeks ago. I woke up having a strange tingling sensation in the right cheek. Few days later, I could feel that there was numbness and thickening in the inside cheek while the tingling continued although it was subdued. My ENT and Oral surgeon dismissed it saying that it might be because of Neurities and prescribed some Multi-vitamins. However, it is now 8 weeks and I still continue to have this thickening.. It is in almost whole of the inside right cheek although I couldn't feel any kind of lump.

Does anybody have experienced this? When I googled it out,all of them point to "C". My doctors say that there are no clinical symptoms and hence are puzzled. I too ignored it because of the biopsy of the tongue ulcer which I had 2 weeks ago.

Can you please suggest what I should do? May be biopsy it out? There are no lesion or change in the color / appearance of the mucosa. Please help.

Folks,
Can anyone reply? I am clueless and so are my doctors... could it be oral fibroma / fibrosis?

Im sorry you have not gotten any replies yet. The post has not even been listed for 24 hours yet. Sometimes over the weekends not as many members are active on the forum. Its not possible to diagnose over the internet. There are all kinds of problems that can pop up inside your mouth that given time will resolve itself. The rule is if a sore is in your mouth for over 2 weeks then it should be biopsied, but you said there is no sore. That could be the reason for no responses. Since you said there is no lesion then what would the doctors biopsy? It may be a good plan to get a second opinion from another ENT as your current one is dismissive of your concerns.

Good luck!!!

I'm not sure what type of search you did on the internet and I am NOT a doctor, but when I googled your symptoms, this is what I came up with: not cancer but Epithelial Hyperplasia
here is a link to a description of it
Epithelial Hperplasia
Perhaps that is why your doctors are "confused" since you are asking them about cancer.
You did not get a response because you asked for a response from someone who had your symptoms. Apparently none of us with cancer have had just thickening with no lesions, no tumors and nothing to biopsy. That should be comforting to you. again, I found nothing on the internet that indicated cancer with what your described so I guess I agree with your doctors about "no clinical symptoms" and am equally puzzled.
Charm

That's a good guess Charm, but hyperplasia, is really just a callous (sp? that looks wrong). It is a thickening of the outermost layer of epithelium, and is very common, usually very small areas as opposed to an entire cheek, where something like a rough filling or tooth edge chronically rubs and the epithelium goes through a protective (and benign) change.

I would like our poster to visit new, and oral cancer aware/treatment knowledgable, different doctors.

Two reasons. First anyone that prescribes vitamins to someone for a actual oral physical change is just appeasing them and has no clue what it is in my mind.

Second I have talked to some patients the have salivary gland tumors and cheek thickening was one of their signs and symptoms. We don't have so many salivary gland cancer patients here, so it isn't talked about much. But given the distance across the world I think the best advice is not to ignore this, not to be convinced by a doctor that is not trained in oral cancers specifically that it is nothing, and to get a new opinion from an expert in the field in his country. In my non doctors opinion, this is an established sign and symptom of something that needs definitive diagnosis.

Balakal

If I were you, I would follow Brian's advice. It sounds like the doctors you saw simply made the same "guess" that I did.
Now you know that you have symptoms that could indicate potential salivary gland cancer, it's time to find doctors with oral cancer experience, just as Brian has suggested.
It may not be easy, but your life is worth the effort. Many of the problems with oral cancer stem from it not being discovered until a late stage. As I know all too well.
Charm

Brian,
Thanks for the post. I am looking out for Specialist in this area and will ask this Doc about this possibility.
Christine,
Sorry if I sounded pushy... I was clueless and so were my docs. I have seen 4 ENTs and 3 Dentists.. all of them were puzzled..
Another possibility I checked on the WWW was Oral Submucous Fibrosis..

Balakal, no apology necessary! I just wanted you to understand that on the weekends sometimes a post will take longer for responses. I know you must be upset about this situation and lack of answers. Hope you find a new doctor who will find out whats wrong very soon!!!