Hi Dmvcc,
I'm no doctor and wouldn't presume to try and diagnose your situation but your mention of 'white striations' rang a bell for me. It is a common symptom of oral lichen planus, with which I was first diagnosed before developing SCC.

Here's a description from an article on this condition (found at
http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic663.htm)

"Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes bilateral white striations, papules, or plaques on the buccal mucosa, tongue, and gingivae. Erythema, erosions, and blisters may or may not be present."

There is a lot of information about lichen planus on the OCF site. Use the OCF search function.
Also, you can do a google search on this for more information and if you want to see images, can do a search at images.google.com

This may or may not apply to you. However, I would urge you to be aggressive in pursuing a diagnosis. Often, a surgical biopsy rather than a brush biopsy is required. Should your diagnosis say 'no cancer', it is still important to monitor inflammatory conditions. Oral lichen planus can develop into squamous cell carcinoma in about 3-5 percent of cases.

Hope this is of some help. Best, Sheldon