Hi Katie - So glad you found this forum! It's the best place to be for all the latest, accurate information and lots of support from people with experience similar to yours. My son (non smoker) also had SCC under the right side of his tongue and had 1/6 of his tongue removed. THis was followed by radiation. His ENT is known as being very aggressive in his treatment and wanted to make sure there would be no recurrence and so far, almost 6 years later, he is doing just great! He was also told that if his SCC was HPV related, that it would be a lot more successful in recovery but he did not have the HPV test to tell for sure. You mentioned your ENT's belief that the irritant caused by your dental implant may have caused the tumor to grow and from what I've read here, it does seem to be a possibility. I'm sure others will be along with much more recent information for you. Meanwhile, if you check out the main pages of OCF, there is a lot of information that can help you decide on questions you can ask your doctor or for anyone here. Do check back here often and let us know what's happening with you.