nettypoho.... Now you and I are more in agreement. Too many dentists are not screening for and diagnosing oral cancer. Any dentist who watched a chronic sore on your tongue for this long without determining its cause and correcting the situation is negligent in my opinion. There is simply no excuse for this to happen. A simple brush biopsy early in the process would have given you a definitive diagnosis at probably a much earlier stage. The minimum he or she should have done is to refer you to someone else who could do the biopsy and give you a firm diagnosis. This is a real problem in dentistry today. As to the ADA, remember that they are an organization whose charter is to represent the interests of their members. That in a nutshell is dentists and not the public. They have not done enough to push their membership to do the screenings necessary to reduce the death rate from this disease. The recent 2.5 million dollar campaign with the ADA logo in the corner of the billboards etc. to make the American public more aware of oral cancer was actually paid for by OralScan labs. My guess is that if OralScan had not put up the money for the program the ADA would have done what they have done for the last 50 years..... essentially nothing of consequence.