It wouldn't hurt to inquire - I originally saw an oral surgeon here in canada - he removed a thickened piece of skin from my tongue - the oral surgeon was a referral from my dentist. I liken them to a step up from a dentist and they do surgeries of the face and mouth reconstructive and otherwise and are qualified to remove growths and tumors in those areas. And ENT does that as well but their care is more expansive. I got the feeling that had my initial biopsy done by the oral surgeon had come back as cancer he might have removed it - then would have referred me to an ENT if there was more than a small amount of involvement. Now I just looked it up - because I was curious. In North America, Australia, and new zealand. They are members of the college of dentistry and in England they are members of the college of medicine. I do know there are ENTs in England as we have quite a few members here who have or are being treated, by ENT. ENTs treat disease of the head and neck. A lot of them make a great living doing tonsils etc. These guys don't see a lot of cancer and are likely ill equipped to deal with cancer as it is not their specialty. I was treated by an ENT with a specialty in surgical oncology.

The difference in education may be the key. Here they get their degree in dentistry - and do a two year fellowship in surgery. I believe in England they need a degree in dentistry and medicine/micro surgery.

The standard treatment for oral cancer here. Usually if you are diagnosed after a biopsy they do blood work and immediately send you for a scan to check for spread. Then they refer you to a ENT - I asked to be referred to an ENT at a top cancer center. Once it's determined the extensiveness and the type of cancer. (Including markers for HPV) they determined treatment.

HPV is often either found in the base of tongue (down your throat) or tonsils, sometimes they'll remove the tonsils and hit you with radiation and chemo, because this type of cancer responds well to rads and chemo, if it's in your base of tongue they may choose to debulk the tumor, or go straight to radiation and chemo.
Non HPV is treated often differently since it can be more aggressive and because it's not virus related is not as easily killed. Often they will remove the tumor itself and a bunch of lymphnodes, (I lost 40) this cancer has a habit of seeding to the nodes and they don't always present in a scan because its mocroscopic cancer. Which tends to become full blown tumors once the primary has been removed. At this point you could be in trouble if no further treatment was applied post surgery.

there are several markers they look for when deciding if further treatment is needed the size is one, the aggressiveness is, another, the third is nerve involvement (was the tumor deep enough to touch a nerve?) and finally - we're there lymphnodes involved (sometimes not determined until after the nodes have been removed) if one or two of the latter are present they will radiate and do chemo (chemo is optional in some cases )

So I guess I would ask your dr. What the difference between the two specialty areas are, why a maxillor- facial surgeon over an ENT - and what happens if a node pops up - and why no scan. If he or she says you'd need to see an ENT if a node pops up - I might be inclined to ask for a referral to one with a lot of experience in head and neck cancer now, Not later. And I would likely want the scan no matter what.

As I said we do have members from the UK - anyone have any other advice? Best of luck - I am a very positive person - just so you know - not a negative nelly at all (I know I sound scary and all doom and gloom) - there are two things this cancer has taught me that are very applicable here, 1 educate yourself on your dx know what is the norm with your cancer treatment and what's not standard protocol, and then ask questions so you know why there are any variances, and 2 better safe than sorry. Often if we make a mistake we can get a redo, cancer is a scary partner - it doesn't often leave room for a redo. In this case with this disease you don't want to be in a position of chasing it.

Hugs