Hi everyone and thanks for the welcome and information. Christine, I do have medical insurance but they are saying they don't take blue cross blue shield for this type of biopsy. I am confused by this and will do some calls to other places tomorrow. This is stressful, let alone money wise. Also, I quit socially smoking, not even a pack a day, about 5 years ago as stated in my intro. It came back with a vengeance even after I quit. But again, never a heavy smoker, very light in fact and I don't know if that has any weight. Sorry that wasn't too clear. The oral surgeon did a biopsy of several sites already and they came up lichen planus as well as leukoplakia. He says the bulk of it is due to trauma or the immune system. I don't have lots of money and literally fighting for help from my mom to get a second opinion but she keeps saying to stick with him b/c a biopsy anywhere will be sufficient as long as it goes to professionals in a pathology lab, which it does.

Briank, yes a pap.

I have been dealing with this on the side of my tongue and inside of cheek since I was in my early 20's. It has been over a decade and it only started hurting in the past few years. I don't even know if i can safely say this is smoke related.

I think I am going to be forced to get this done by the same oral surgeon....I will make some calls though...

Christineb, if you don't mind me asking, how long did you experience the pain from the white patch on your tongue and was it lateral on the side and was it lichen planus or leukoplakia? How long have you had the patch, pain or not? Was it painless to begin with? Sorry for so many questions, but very interested to hear.