Before I was diagnosed I went to my primary care and she even did a strep swab off the left tonsil. When she did that I twitched because it hurt and she did not say a word. I feel she did not know what to look for and the ENT they sent me to was on it like a duck on a june bug. So to be safe I would recommend going to the ENT or someone who deals in oral cancers.

Reading the above just lets all of us know what we are up against in finding a way to identify and stop this form of cancer. A daunting challange, but one well taken. Amy in the Ozarks.

If you are near a dental school / university healthcare system, I would add a specialty to Dr. Phan's recommendation and that is an oral medicine specialist. Memeber of the AAOM, a small sub group in dentistry, they are seldom in private practice and are mostly located at dental schools and treatment facilities. Their extra training makes them particularly adept at oral cancer diagnosis and management of issues once treatment begins. Oral Pathologists as well as those in medicine are the final stop though, since microscopic evaluation of biopsy sample is the gold standard for diagnosis.