Hello @gtokaren and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I’m sure this lesion in your mouth was a startling discovery. It’s good you went in to see your dentist quickly to have this checked out and are now set up for a biopsy with the oral surgeon. Waiting for biopsies are so stressful. You want to know and yet, you don’t… We’ll be optimist that is not cancerous and no further treatment will be needed.
However if turns out that this is a type of oral cancer, your oral/maxillofacial surgeon can help guide you to the next steps. This surgeon is a specialist who treats diseases of the mouth, teeth, and jaws.
Or your surgeon may refer you to one of several specialists who treat oral cancer.
An otolaryngologist, also known as an ear, nose, and throat, or ENT doctor: A surgeon who treats certain diseases of the head and neck.
A radiation oncologist: a doctor who treats cancer with radiation therapy.
A medical oncologist: a doctor who treats cancer with medicines such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or targeted therapy
This is all premature at this point and but I understand your wanting to know what’s next. The biopsy, if positive for cancer will allow the doctor to stage the degree of the cancer. That will then help determine the next step in your medical care.
We often don’t even realize we have anything going on in our mouths unless they are irritating, rough or sore. How did you discover this?
Thank you so much for this information. It is very helpful. It is unnerving to wait this long then to find out the “verdict”. Hard not to think about.