Hello all,

I'm a 22 year old male. I smoked 2 packs a week for about 2 years (19-21) and quit about a year ago.

I'm also a Marine and in a training environment where seeking a thorough medical examination requires jumping through a bunch of hoops and missing out on some important training. Hence my reluctance for the past few months to get the following issue checked out. Wanted some advice on whether I should see a doc ASAP or wait it out another 2 months until I'm out of my current school:

About four months ago I noticed a small deformity on my inner mandible with my tongue. It's on the left side, maybe an inch below where my bottom teeth meet the gum. The best way I can describe it is a small crater that rises into a small lump. it started out extremely small; over the past four months it has grown, but not very much. I would estimate that it's less than 1cm across but greater than .5cm. It's completely painless.

About two to three weeks ago, I started getting seriously concerned about the issue, since I smoked for two years I figured I'd be at risk for mouth cancer. I did some research, saw that swollen lymph nodes were a possible sign of mouth cancer, and checked to see if I could feel them.

Sure enough, I could feel them if I felt around the area under my jaw a bit. They aren't bulging out of my neck, but they are clearly there, and approximately pea sized. On the side with the bump there's two pea-sized bumps, and on the other side there's just one.

Is this something I should get checked out ASAP, even while in training, or am I just being paranoid?

Welcome, Ambrose. Yes, you should get checked out ASAP by an ENT. It could be anything, besides cancer, and most illnesses, especially cancer, are best treated early. Hopefully it's something minor. Good luck.

Hi Ambrose,

Welcome to the forum. There are a lot of great folks and info here.

By my logic, if it concerned you enough to post it on a H&N forum like this then it's a concern that needs to be addressed.

Question: Are the lymph nodes you feel hard and painless or soft and a little sore to the touch?

"T"

Go get your mouth checked out by an ENT who specializes in oral cancer. A biopsy will determine if it is cancer. You are young, but unfortunately not too young for oral cancer. I really hope it comes back negative.

Good luck!!!

[quote=fishmanpa]Hi Ambrose,

Welcome to the forum. There are a lot of great folks and info here.

By my logic, if it concerned you enough to post it on a H&N forum like this then it's a concern that needs to be addressed.

Question: Are the lymph nodes you feel hard and painless or soft and a little sore to the touch?

"T"
[/quote]

Thank you all; I'll do my best to see a doc as soon as I can.

The lymph nodes I can feel are more or less painless, though one is a little sore. I don't know if I could describe them as hard or soft, but they feel moveable.

My totally painless small node in my neck equated to Stage IV SCC when they finally did a biopsy so PLEASE do yourself a favor and get looked at by a ENT ASAP.

You can't rely on the node being soft or hard to be an indication of cancer. Many are small, soft, painless, but when they enlarge, they can attach to bone or other structure, harden, and press on nerve to cause pain or can be from other reasons.. What some experienced doctors do is go by the shape, thickness of the lypmh node in the middle of it. Anyway, mine always sent me for testing..FNAB or scan.

Ambrose - Definitely get it checked out ASAP! My son put off seeing a doctor, (he had no health insurance and no job at the time) until finally, when it got so big and painful, it was a Stage 2 SCC and extremely painful because it was wrapped around a nerve. It could just be nothing but it is better to find out for sure. Your health is very important, not only to you but to the people who love and care about you. Important also is to see an ENT with extensive experience treating oral cancer. DO it! And check back to let us know how you are doing.

Hello all,

Thanks much for all the advice!

I went to dental sick call this morning. I can't exactly just go to an ENT on my own time, partially because my chain of command needs to know about it so I can get the insurance all worked out, and partially because there's literally no time in my schedule during the week (and I have no control whatsoever over my schedule). The two avenues available to me are medical sick call and dental sick call.

So here's how it went: the dentist checked it out and felt around. She indicated that she thought it was an enlarged salivary gland. I'm not 100% convinced... I'm not positive she actually felt what I was feeling with my tongue (I've never been able to physically see the lump... Not sure if that's cause it's within the flesh or if it's just too far down). Again, it's located maybe .5 to 1 inch below my gum line on my bottom left inner jaw, maybe .5 cm across or a little more.

Anyways, I got a full 360 degree x ray. It came out totally normal.

Does a normal x ray generally mean everything is ok?

I told her about the lymph nodes, but she didn't seem terribly concerned.

So I'm left with the diagnosis of an enlarged salivary gland and instructions to keep an eye on it.

Courses of action available at this point:

-leave it alone for a few weeks, see if the nodes recede, go back to dental if they don't

-go to medical to get the enlarged nodes checked out

That's a question you need to ask yourself.

Since you're not satisfied with the answers you received from the dentist, it's your call whether to continue to seek answers. You said she wasn't concerned about the lymph nodes. Did she feel the lymph nodes in your neck when you told her about them?

"T"