My husband's initial biopsy of a very small piece of a leukoplakia on his tongue was done by an oral surgeon. The pathology report indicated moderate dysplasia (not cancer, but not normal), but strongly warned of a "skip effect," meaning that there could be cancer cells in areas that were not part of that biopsy. (The lab that read the slides did only oral pathology, and my guess is that the pathologist saw something suspicious but not definitive.)

He was referred to a local ENT for an excisional biopsy, which removed the whole leukoplakia, and that's when the biopsy report came back with SCC in situ. Once we knew for sure there was cancer, he began being seen by an ENT cancer specialist at Hopkins, about an hour away. No further treatment so far, knock on wood.

His dentist does VELscope him every six months.