thanks for the information about the virus. i had never heard of that before. i'll have to get myself tested.
the reason why i blame the braces is because the exact site of the wound is where the cancer developed. my braces literally cut a huge chunk out of my tongue and continued to irritate that site through the entire 3 years i had them. when it started to heal over, it became a textbook precancerous leasion......which i foolishly believed to be scar tissue. for 3 years, i had the textbook precancerous areas on my tongue and no one said anything about it. it was those exact areas that the oral pathogist biopsied and those were the areas that became cancerous.
the only reason i dwell on the braces issue is because i went to a clinic at a university for them. it is an education setting, and they were definitely not educating the students properly. my student, as well as her supervising orthodontists and the dentists i saw ignored something that shouldn't have been overlooked.
as a phd student in pathology, i couldn't believe what happened. if i had any clue that it could be cancer, i would have gotten my text books out sooner and been more aggressive with my dentist and orthodontist.
my goal is to take my story to the clinics and educate them. the oral pathologist i saw is going to use me as a case study to try and prevent this from happening again. education is the key to prevention, and my case shows that there was a break down in the educational system.
(p.s. i know i am going to kick this cancer's butt....that's why i'm crusading about this possible braces issue)