More to your checkup
By: Dr. Ng | July 12th, 2018
Recently a good friend of mine asked me to look at a lesion on one side of his tongue. As with normal protocol, I followed up 2 weeks after to see if the lesion has resolved. I was surprised by how rapidly the lesion had grown in size and immediately proceeded to have it biopsied. Unfortunately, it was diagnosed as malignant and he is now scheduled for surgery later this month. However, as the lesion was caught at an early stage, it had not progressed to other tissues and stayed localized.
There is a good prognosis that cancer will be successfully removed.
Your checkup is more than simply looking over your teeth and gums. We are always evaluating the tissues of the mouth ( that includes the inner cheeks, the tongue, under the tongue the back of the throat, the gum, the palate and the floor of the mouth. Sometimes during my routine checkups, I come across soft tissue lesions which you yourself cannot feel or see. The sooner the lesion is taken care of whether it be sore or not, red or white, smooth or rough, flat or raised, we can determine if cancer is present. There is a higher chance that cancer can be removed successfully with a better outcome.
