hi, i had a similar situation to yours. my problems began when i had braces put on that constantly irritated my tongue. this irritation caused a huge, horrible looking patch that was completely ignored by my orthodontist and dentist for 3 1/2 years. a month ago, my tongue swelled up and became painful. i went to the dentist and he had me swish with salt water for a week. when nothing improved (it actually got worse) i was sent to an oral pathologist who proceeded to freak out. i now have stage 3 oral cancer and will lose half of my tongue in one month. it's very frustrating to me that the professional dental community would over look this in people under the age of 40 (i'm 26). i have made it my vow to get out there and educate as many dental related workers as possible to prevent this from happening again. i also just read that the american dental association is going to start a tv campaign to educate more people about oral cancer. hopefully, if people like us start making a lot of noise, they will listen.

keep you head up....i know the frustration of waiting for the results....it really stinks. stay positive because once they have a true diagnosis they can start treating it asap.