aotagandco

Sorry to hear about this recurrence .
My mother has SCC and she is not HPV positive. Her cancer started in the lower left rear jaw. Her first surgery was the removal of part of her jaw and her recurrence is below the same jaw in the neck area.

My mother was diagnosed with Leukoplakia also and this is what we are linking her cancer to. My mother has always had regular dental checkups and has always cared for her mouth and teeth.
She suffered with Gingivitis also. Her gums became so bad that her teeth started to loosen up and fall out until she had no choice but to pull them . That was something she hated to do was to loose her teeth. As she started to wear her new dentures the rear left jaw became inflamed so she couldn't wear them. All the while she had a tumor and didn't even know it. She had been to several dentist along the way and not one of them noticed this tumor. She even developed a foul breath but it was constantly being diagnosed a Leukoplakia and Gingivitis and treated as that. I don't doubt that she did have the Leukoplakia but we "my family" do feel like this was the cause of the cancer developing .

Next thing we knew was her ear started to hurt and off to the ENT where she was diagnosed with SCC. She is now battling this horrible disease.

I want to wish you the very best with your surgery.
Heidi