Not all dental professionals bother dealing with other issues in the mouth besides teeth. Anything else gets ignored. All dental offices across the country are doing their patients a disservice if they are not giving every single patient a full oral cancer screening at their yearly check up.

If your dentist or hygienist does not do a yearly screening, ask for one. Its where they lift up your tongue by holding it with a piece of gauze, feeling your neck and looking in your mouth. If they still dont do the screening then you need to find another dentist, one who is up to date and current with medical procedures.

Best wishes with everything! I hope you can quit smoking and the sore will go away before anything else needs to be done. By quitting now you will greatly reduce your chances of serious medical issues down the road. PLEASE quit!!! You do NOT want to go thru what I have...or maybe worse end up looking like me due to your smoking. Here is an interesting fact...for every single person who dies from tobacco related causes, another 20 more are left living with life long medical problems. Im one of those 20.

Good luck!!!