Good afternoon,
Im a 23 year old male and iam worried that i may have oral cancer.
It all began September of last year i felt a lesion on the left back side of my tongue and so was very concerned as a result since then I have seen a total of 6 ENTs 1 oral surgeon and 1 dentist...I had an excisional biopsy done of the area which came back benign and it read a chronic inflammation of the salivary glands the ENT who performed it assured me that it wasnt oral cancer yet was going to perform the biopsy in order to give me some piece of mind, however as she was doing it i told her to extract tissue from the bump i felt and she said the following "I've been doing this for thirty years kid i know what iam doing" and so now im afraid the biopsy is not as reliable because I can still feel the small lump...all other ENTs have taken a look at it felt it put their fingers inside my mouth and also assure me that it is not cancer and i should have nothing to worry about...I had a cat scan done of my throat which stated that i had inflammation of the glands about 6 mm and the ENT said not to worry that it was normal...lastly i was seen by an ENT at the hospital who stuck a camera through my nostril and said I have severe acid reflux and my voice box is severely irritated which i know and have been taking medication for yet it does nothing to ease my pain...after that i saw a dentist who referred me to an oral surgeon the oral surgeon took a look i showed him the results of the biopsy and after seeing the lesion stated that he was convinced is not oral cancer i asked if he could remove the lump and he said that there was nothing to be removed that if he did so he would be cutting into my tongue.....the reason for my worry is that ive experienced and continue to experience symptoms of oral cancer such as ear pain that comes and goes constant throat pain to the left side although it doesnt hurt to swallow chew or eat i have chest pain on my right side and the doctors say that it can all be attributed to gastric acid or the reflux i have, yet im not convinced because the medication has done nothing... i dont have health insurance so finding an accurate diagnosis has been quite costly...my only last option is to go back to the ENT and have an endoscopy done so they can check the structures on my throat.....what appalls me is the degree of certainty these specialists have when they tell me its not cancer its reached a point where they tell me that i want to be told i have cancer which i find ridiculous...I JUST DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO ANYMORE IM AFRAID I HAVE CANCER AND COULD BE DYING DUE TO THE AMOUNT OF TIME THAT HAS ELAPSED I NEED SOME ADVICE AS TO WHAT STEPS TO TAKE NEXT...PLEASE HELP