Anything is possible I assume, but I have read that normally if you have symptoms for that long a period of time and been seen by the appropriate specialist then its very unlikely to be cancer. Im not a doctor but I assume that if one were to have head and neck cancer for three years then you most likely would start having some major problems but I dont know really and I havent been able to find any info about what one would expect to possibly see as far as progression of an untreated cancer. I still let it bug the hell out of me though. Next time i see my ENT in 3 months Im gonna ask him to possibly refer me to an oral pathologist and maybe an infectious diseas specialist cause Im really tired of not having answers! lol