Cheryl,
I have experienced earache from time to time with this. When I visited the oncology dentist at the cancer center I am at, he thought it was likely TMJ. Goodness knows we are all tense, so even if you have not had TMJ before you could develop something like it. I was sure I had another tumor causing ear pain, etc., but nothing else showed up on any scan, etc. Ear pain is a symptom of some locations of oral cancer. Since the time I saw the dentist here, and he gave his opinion, I have had limited ear problems.

I also think we are really complexly made, and it is possible some part of your tumor would be pressing on a nerve. I always thought if they were truly well differentiated lesions and not too big you would not have neural involvement, but I don't know that for a fact.

Actually my husband is a general dentist in private practice, and he says many patients come in complaining of their ear when it is a problem with a tooth or teeth, or TMJ. These folks do not have oral cancer, or at least have not developed oral cancer yet. He (my husband) is the one that insisted I needed to see someone about my small lesion and got me that first appointment.

Anne