I would not presume to make any recommendations about whom you should see; I can only tell you our experience.

An oral surgeon is a dentist with advanced surgical training in the oral cavity; an ENT is a physician with advanced training, including surgery, in treating the area generally known as "ear, nose and throat" (and also includes the mouth).

I expect my husband was initially referred to an oral surgeon because it was his dentist who first identified the area of concern. She was more plugged in to the dental community, and a large part of this particular oral surgeon's practice deals with the identification of oral pathology. (Many oral surgeons primarily do such procedures as wisdom teeth extraction -- that's not whom you would want to see.)

The oral surgeon does not treat oral cancer. When my husband's first pathology report came back, showing moderate dysplasia (not cancer), the oral surgeon referred him to a local ENT to remove the leukoplakia (the oral surgeon's biopsy was on only a tiny part of it). Once the second pathology report, from the excisional biopsy, came back as showing SCC, my husband switched his care to an ENT cancer specialist at Johns Hopkins, about an hour away. The ENT in northern Virginia is very good, but he also deals with sleep apnea, hearing loss and such.

Because my husband's cancer was totally removed in the excisional biopsy, he is seen through the regular Hopkins ENT department, not at the Kimmel Cancer Center, but his doctor is one of the oral cancer specialists.

Hope this helps. Let us know how your appointment goes tomorrow. (And I agree completely with Colleen about getting your care, if you need it, at a large cancer center with a dedicated head/neck cancer clinic. That's all they deal with.)

-- Leslie