Barb,
I have been to dentists who feel the neck for nodes at regular checkups, but that did not happen in my case. Mine was base of tongue, so it was not visible, but it grew to Stage IV before anyone got concerned. I had a dry, scratchy throat for many months, and began having pain in my gum. I started at the dentist, who sent me to the endodontist who sent me to the periodontist. The periodontist did a gum procedure that did not work and thus sent me back to the endodontist to redo an old root canal. When he opened up the tooth, it was fine.

Due to the persistent dry throat, I did ask the periodontist to attempt to look down my throat with his mirror, but my gag reflex did not allow him to see anything. I even went to my radiologist buddy who also tried unsuccessfully to look there. When you are relatively young and healthy, everyone just assumes that you have an allergy.

My tumor was not found until food that I swallowed began coming back up and I went to an ENT who had me do a barium swallow with the radiologist, which revealed something, and followed it up by scoping me, revealing a big tumor.

I cannot really blame the dental professionals since it was not visible in my mouth, but, had they been better trained in feeling around the neck, they might have been able to detect the nodes.

So my thoughts are that it should be emphasized to the dentists to feel around the neck as well as to look in the mouth.

Danny G.