Bobby, I had been dealing with a similar thing for year, but from earlier biopsy I knew it was oral Lichen Planus. After 2 rounds of surgery/rad for separate issue with actual cancer, I managed to burn that particular spot real well and it never really healed up. Decided to have the whole thing removed, and am glad I did. It was nothing cancerous, but there's now no more white or sore patches there and things are back to normal in that area for the first time in maybe 20 years.

Thing was, even after 2 occurances of cancer, the ent still was reluctant to do anything, I finally insisted and said I want it removed that he did anything. A week of mild discomfort was a small price to pay for getting rid of it.
Bob

Bobby,
A biopsy doesn't have to be a surgical procedure.My dentist spotted a suspicious white spot on my tongue (after diagnosis and treatment)and I showed it to my surgeon at MD Anderson and he clipped a little piece of it with scissors and it was enough to biopsy it. A place as accesible as the inside of the mouth should be an easy spot from which to cut off a little skin for testing.

Best of luck,
Danny G.

Bobby ...
I've also had something similar to that, and at first it was biopsied as oral lichen planus .. but then it became dysplasia, so I had it removed with laser. Two years later, after it still hadn't healed, it was again dysplasia, and the oral surgeon at the time wanted to try one more topical ointment before removing it. Next biopsy it was squamous cell cancer. So don't let it go. Be persistent. As Bob said, insist that it be removed, if that's what you have to do.

Jan (who hasn't posted to this board for about a year but I read often)
SCC removed surgically from inside right cheek and commisure 6/03. Margins not clear .. still no sign of recurrence. Also a 10 year thyroid cancer survivor. Would like reconstructive surgery but no one will do it.

Good news Bobby!

Ask your doctor about a dye test that might be available to simply brush on the surface and will quite accurately alert if cancer is present. It is called Toluidine blue stain. It is painless and non surgical.

Take care

Bobby,

My cancer, which I was told was nothing by an ENT, was initially diagnosed with an Oral CDX Brush biopsy by my dentist. It is painless and non-invasive. There is also another non-invasive test called Vizilite which can be done by a dentist. Basically you swish with a dilute vinegar solution and are examined with a special light. Don't take "it's nothing" as your answer.

Barb

First, every one here is basically right. Here is the bottom line after all these posts in my mind. BobbyB needs to know for certain what it is that he has. He doesn't get any help from a doctor that says, "It doesn't look like anything serious" That is utter BS. No doctor, no matter how much experience, can tell you from just looking that it is or is not malignant. The Cdx brush is not a definitive diagnosis. It finds tissue which if dysplastic or malignant must still be sent for a real (not brush cytology) biopsy. It is primarily designed for dentists who see 3-5 abnormalities in the mouth every week, and rather than wait and watch, they want to know if it is really worth sending out for a punch or incisional biopsy. The light does even less. It only finds ANY suspect tissue, you bite your cheek, it finds it.... so I do not recommend that that be used as a DIAGNOSTIC tool, it is only a DISCOVERY tool, and we have already discovered that there is something here. So BobbyB, if he wants an answer and peace of mind, needs to quit pussy-footing around with this thing, especially given a tobacco history, and go to someone, ENT, oral surgeon, etc. and get a biopsy which is painless, cheap, and puts the matter to rest. There is nothing to debate here. If his ENT doesn't want to do it, go somewhere else. A biopsy ain't no big deal, and will take less than 5 minutes. In less than a week the answer will be there. An answer that is not ambiguous, and which will also define exactly if it is not malignancy, what it is

Mark. T-blue is not yet approved by the FDA for intra oral use in the USA, although it is in testing right now. It is the dye, which has been used on pathology slides for decades to differentiate squamous cell mitochondria from everything else. Only a couple of institution like UCSF are using it (at some professional risk, as it is an off label use of the product) in the oral environment, and even there, it takes a really great set of trained eyes to read the resulting intra oral stain, and make a definitive case of toludine blue positive SCC diagnosis. Having said that, I have a bottle of acetic acid (watered down vinegar) and T blue in my own home, and I routinely dye things in my own mouth that bother me. But this idea isn't for everybody, and I am not suggesting that anyone else even consider doing this. And no, I will not tell you where to get it. I would get may ass sued big time. My personal relationship with researchers has made this possible. OraTest, (oral toludine blue) which will hopefully be sold by Zila Pharma in the next few years is what you are talking about. They are currently selling it in other countries (China, England) where there are fewer, or at least laxer regulations on these kinds of things. Canada allowed its sale for a while, and then the marketer of the OraTest removed it from the market when the question of whether or not it, itself could be mutanogenic... I think not in theses small exposures, but that is the question before the FDA as well as what does it actually find, and what claims can be made for it. I am intimately involved with people who are doing the research and on this particular topic I know more than 99% of the doctors out there since I have been aggressively following it for about 5 years, and have read every scientific paper ever published on it. As a person geared toward early detection and definitive diagnosis, a dye that any idiot could put on the tissue and know right then and there what it was (SCC or not) would be a Godsend. But we do not know that without some uncertainties today. Where it excels is in defining a border of an area to be excised, so that the surgeon can stay a certain amount of tissue further away from that demarcation and not leave any inappropriate tissue behind. You will not find ENT's and oral surgeon or dentists routinely using this product in the US.

Bobby,

All these folks are making good points. You've had a little bit of everything to ponder, and Brian is exactly right: your answer and peace of mind can be obtained relatively easily. Just tell your doctor you've thought it over and want to know FOR SURE.

Here's my two cents' worth: My husband kept biting his cheek at night or in the early morning and complaining about it. Yet he didn't think it needed medical attention. He had been a pipe smoker for years, yet the fact that he was biting a spot over and over on the inside of his mouth seemed unrelated. To make this a short story, when he finally got it checked out, we discovered it was cancer and he was biting it because it was a tumor growing in his mouth. A year and a half later, he died.

Act. Now. Just take care of it.

Christine

I'll call the ENT this morning and go back. I appreciate the help here.

I rue the day I ever started dipping tobacco and thinking it was even remotely cool. Amazingly stupid!

Welcome Bobby, I am so happy that you are going to go and have this checked out. That is a GREAT step you are making. Please keep us posted on how or what is going on with you, until then we will pray for you, Always Miss Vicki