Hello there! A little background first. I signed in here last year ago asking about a white patch on the left side of my tongue. Through your advice I had a biopsy done and it came back negative. That was a relief, however I'm not completely convinced I have nothing to worry about. Especially after seeing my aunt battle this disease for years.

I still have the white patch, which rubs right up against a silver filling in my mouth. I have an appt to fix that filling of course, but am wondering what other steps you all would recommend me to take. The doctor told me that the patch is caused by some sort of irritating factor but that's not comforting. I'm afraid it'll still be there after the filling fix. My aunt was told several things when she first noticed her ulcer like the irritation could be caused by a toothpaste change/diet change etc. Then she rested on that until a lump formed in her lower jaw.

Anyway, any input/questions about my patch would be much appreciated!

A negative biopsy is good. It could be from rubbing on the silver filling, so see what happens once corrected. Is the white patch able to be scraped away or not, raised, is it more of an ulcer? There are many types of oral conditions, medications, substances that can be the cause, some able to be scraped off, and more of an infection, recurrent conditions that come and go, ulcers. There also could be co-infections or diseases in any situation, and not always cancer, so although one condition is identified they may not look further once one cause is found. Maybe see an ENT, ear nose throat doctor, that deals with this more often to help identify, your primary care doctor or infectious disease doctor to do blood work, cultures tests for infections, diseases. Good luck.

Hi Db7,
due to chemo and rads 3 years ago, i am now experiencing numerous dental issues. On 12/3 I am having my upper teeth replaced with some brand new ones. The bottoms will have to wait till early next year which will need to include 20 ore and 20 post hyperbaric chamber sessions. I have a broken tooth on the bottom that sometimes my tongue rubs on. after a day or two of irritation it would get swollen and become worse. I remembered back to my days of wearing braces and bought some orthodontics wax at the drugstore and molded it around the tooth till the swelling subsided. Works great. Maybe it's worth a try and see what happens.

Great idea about the dental wax, Tom!

You are so fortunate to have a negative biopsy! By biopsying a visible sore in your mouth and getting a negative result, that should be enough to tell you that you are ok. Everyone is different and what happened to aunt is completely different than what you are experiencing. Im sure she had other things going on which probably werent noticed until she was diagnosed. Oral cancer is not always easily found. After what happened with your aunt, Im sure it makes you suspicious but to me it sounds like you really are ok.

It's still there - have the tooth dealt with if it doesn't go away go back to see your ENT. Hugs

Ditto to what Chery and Christine said. You are most likely fine, but you are wise to keep a keen eye on things and be aggressive with follow up.

I wish you all the best and may you never have to utter the words oral cancer, other than helping to spread awareness!

Love in OCF,
Kerri

Thank you very much for all of the replies!