I agree with Sherrie Lynn - it's not always dentists who don't catch things they should be aware of, it's also doctors - doctors who don't want to spend time with their patients or who only half-listen to the patient when they come in for a check-up. When I belonged to former HMO (my husband was under my insurance plan) - our doctor at the time ignored the symptoms my husband was complaining of, which was frequent sore throat and ear pain. The doctor didn't even make a referral to an ENT specialist - he just sent my husband home with some "Cipro" for his ear and some cough medicine with codeine in it. After I switched HMO's to the one I am currently with - our new doctor noticed something "suspicious" (hard mass on right side of neck) and sent him to an ENT doc. A biopsy was done and sure enough it was squamous cell carcinoma at the base of the tongue. Even the dentist my husband was seeing did not think to check for anything. It's amazing how quickly doctors ignore or dismiss a patient's concerns without being cautious enough to have further tests done to rule out a diagnosis or to confirm it. Usually by the time it's been "confirmed" - the patient has had it spread to lymph nodes and it's much harder to treat. People in general need to be made more aware of oral cancers and doctors need to be more vigilant.