Welcome to OCF, May!

Im sorry you may have a need for our support! Hopefully everything you have currently going on does NOT include cancer!!! [b]**IF**[/b] (try not to get too far ahead of yourself.... IF is the biggest little word!!!) it does turn out you do have cancer you are in the very best place for info and support!!! You have so many things going on in your mouth right now all that together could be behind what the doc wants to biopsy.

Im sure you already know this .... smoking or using tobacco in any form eventually will give health problems and any smoker should quit smoking. Please let this health scare be your wake up call to eliminate all tobacco usage right away to give your mouth a chance to heal. I am a former smoker and that is why I have gone thru having oral cancer (OC) 3x in 3 years and have been forced to stop working and dramatically change my lifestyle to something that is slower paced to match my bodys now fragile and greatly weakened state after 3x OC, all the poison from chemo, too many surgeries to even count anymore, unable to eat, have swallowing problems and on top of that Ive lost all my teeth from radiation damage. Thats just me who had been in fairly decent shape when I was first diagnosed in 2007. If I continued to smoke I would NOT have survived! In fact, I shocked my doctors who all were almost completely positive I would not survive the 3rd OC in 2009. Im very VERY lucky to still be here and now I share things Ive picked up from being on the forum reading every single post for almost 12 years. By quitting tobacco you will give your mouth a fighting chance to heal. The same can be said about alcohol... stop drinking immediately!!! Tobacco and alcohol both are strong irritants to the sensitive mouth tissue. Anyone who has a mouth sore, spot, bump, lump etc in their mouth for 2 or 3 weeks and it does not heal on its own should be getting checked out by a specialist. An ENT who specializes in treating OC for most is a good choice of doctor. OC ENTs deal with OC more often than many other types of doctors so they are usually the most familiar with the numerous things that could happen inside a patients mouth. Biopsies are usually a 3 visit deal... first is your initial office visit and if necessary doc gives biopsy options, second visit is the biopsy and third is getting the results of the biopsy. Some doctors will call or email their patients the results but most will want the patient there in the office to discuss the next steps to heal whatever the biopsy determined.

Photos do NOT help to determine what is OC and what isnt. Ive gone thru page after page of photos of many various mouth sores some cancer others not. I was surprised to find even though I knew quite alot about OC and what I had gone thru its next to impossible look at something and tell exactly what it is. Even experienced doctors can only give a guess, an educated guess but its still just guessing until the biopsy says what it is. Theres many different things a mouth sore can be besides cancer. Hopefully yours is nothing serious!!! Ive included a link to our main OCF site where theres tons of info, this explains other noncancerous mouth lesions. Most mouth lesions are NOT cancerous. Hopefully that will help make your situation a little easier and help you to be less worried. Ive always found when I worry about something the more I learn about it and understand it the easier it is for me to manage it.


Main OCF Site, Understanding, Premalignant Lesions

Best wishes with everything!!! Please let us know how you make out with your biopsy results. Good luck!!!!


PS.... Just in case anyone doesnt know what Candida albicans is, per wikipedia...... Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogenic yeast that is a common member of the human gut flora. It does not proliferate outside the human body. It is detected in the gastrointestinal tract and mouth in 40–60% of healthy adults. Around here we usually call Candida albicans.... thrush Thrush can be very painful and difficult to eliminate, especially with so many other conditions affecting the Ph in your mouth.