Are your teeth bad to begin with or have you always maintained good oral hygiene practices? There is no reason to extract otherwise good teeth even if you get concurrent chemo and radiation.

You have a rather small local tumor with no apparent mets to your nodes. You have already had some kind of a surgery that may have removed the Primary. You are young and you haven't mention a tobacco history. Unless I missed it you didn't really say what part of the tongue was involved, like the base of tongue. Has anyone mentioned what they suspect caused your cancer, like tobacco or HPV?

You say you went to a CCC, which one?

Listen I'm not a doctor of any kind, just a vet who has also read 1000's of posts since I finished my Tx. I also got 5 different opinions from "qualified" professionals and believe me I'm glad I did because if I had gone with the first 2 I would be dead today. If I had gone with the 3rd and 4th I would have had unnecessary surgery with lifetime adverse side effects. Even going with the 5th opinion by a CCC I still had to stay on top of my Tx and I questioned things often.

My point is I wouldn't feel comfortable with what you have been told so far and I would RUN to another CCC, one that sees hundreds and hundreds of patients just like you a year.


David

Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.