hi raymond. the 2nd opinion is of course your decision, but i have nothing but good things to say about dr. carlson and the whole team at UTMC in knoxvegas. as far as surgery goes, its a peice of cake compared to radiation therapy (for me anyway). i would rather have a thousand surgeries than repeat radiation treatment... sorry thats not a ringing endorsement for radiation but.. regardless of the treatment or outcome of the surgery; having someone to help will make all the difference... fwiw, i was secretly hoping the dentist will want to remove a bunch of teeth; so i can get dentures, that way i can ask for fangs to be molded into them... that would be cool.