I saw an oral surgeon, a hygienist and dentist (twice) and a GP (twice) with 2 rounds of antibiotics (with a highly visible tumor, tan rubbery blob, slightly larger than a golf ball AND THEY COULDN'T DIAGNOSE IT! It took the ENT about 5 microseconds to tell me to get my "affairs in order" - and that without even taking a biopsy. And I did bring it to their attention numerous times. They now perform (and they did perform regular cancer exams but mainly under the tongue, in the mouth, gums and places like that. They never wrapped gauze around my tongue and took a look in the back of my throat but then maybe that is outside their area of expertise. It was a big honking tumor though and readliy visible as I already mentioned.

In all fairness to my dentist, he has a practice in an upscale area and has seen about 3 or so oral cancer patients during his entire career (almost 40 years and he is semi-retired). I'm not ripping dentists here but there's nothing like going to a specialist for a complicated area like the head and neck.