If you are anything like me, you get a reminder call from the dentist's office and cancel the appointment stating some business meeting that has you out of town or your dog goes in for surgery that day or some other crazy damned excuse to stop them from calling for the next month or so. After putting it off for almost a year I gathered up my nerve to finally go in for my cleaning. Don't get me wrong, my dentist is the most wonderful dentist any nervous patient could ask for but my teeth are so sensitive that just a simple cleaning requires me to have my mouth frozen. Now between visiting with clients (just imagine an SP walking in your room with her mouth frozen) and work, going 4 hours with a frozen mouth just doesn't fit well in my schedule. Ok, it's a poor excuse but it proved a costly lesson recently.
In March I finally made it into the hygenist's chair. It was a complete work up with x-rays and that thing where they prod your gums and call out numbers. Just what do they call that anyways? I have known for some time now that I have a problem with bone loss and this is always an issue when I go for these visits. Numbers of 10 and 11 when healthy numbers for the gums are 2's and 3's. I know, this may sound silly...I wished I knew how to explain it better. Anyways, the hygenist finished her cleaning and told me the Dr. would be in in just a minute to talk with me. Nothing seemed outside of the norm until he walked in and as he started to take a look around my mouth the hygenist commented to him something about the "buccal mucosa". He said he had noticed that and spent the next few minutes quietly scraping around the insides of my cheeks and gum line.
After doing so he sat up and asked if I have any odd habits. Cheek biting? Chewing on objects?. No to both. Chronic gum chewing? Yes. He explained that I had a "small white patch" on the inside of my left cheek. Likely it was nothing but he wanted to send me to an oral surgeon to have it looked at. He didn't seem too concerned so I wasn't either, although the weeks of waiting to get into the doctor was a little frustrating. Finally the day came and I found myself sitting in the office of the oral surgeon having a biopsy taken of what he referred to as a "rather large lesion". Now I was nervous. A white patch I could handle. A lesion I dould not although he assured me it was just clinical talk.
One week later and I am called into his office to discuss the results of my biopsy. "What you have is termed squamous cell carcinoma". I had no idea what squamous cell meant but I knew carcinoma meant cancer. That's all I heard that day really. He talked a bit about my smoking and gum chewing habits and then tried to explain how carcinoma works within the body. I just focused on what to do next. You would think it would be immediate treatment but no, it was a matter of doing some testing before treatment would be given. First he explained that I would need an exploratory done to see just how far, if at all the cancer has spread, This would involve an endoscopy. A very simple procedure placing a camera down my throat. This could be done while I was awake but the chicken shit I am, I opted to have it done while I was asleep. Some of you may know me to be calm and relaxed by nature but when it comes to these things I say knock me out because I become a nervous wreck.
So, 2 weeks later I was put out and the camera was rolling. From there I only remember waking up and feeling ill to my stomach. I was given some gravol and was a little groggy still when the doctor came in. He asked what my plans were for the rest of the evening. I was scared then, knowing that I was supposed to be released by 1pm and at home to meet my kids when they got home from school. Then he asked me about work and my schedule for the next few days. When I asked him why he asked my permission to put me out again as he had found a few lesions on the back of my throat he wanted to biopsy and at the same time remove the lesion on my cheek. I cried. Then I asked for my purse so I could call my kids father and be sure he would take care of the kids until I got home and help out through the weekend. That settled and I was back in having the lesion removed.
Everything went very well and once I was awake and steady I was told to go home and wait for the new biopsy results to come in, likely about 10 days. It was hard for me after I was at home. It's the wait that was the hardest. And me......I keep to myself when I am upset. I can't talk about it, but I had no problem crying myself through it. I don't want mean for that to sound sad because it really wasn't that sad. It was healthy for me to cry as it is not something I do often and it showed that I was dealing with something for once instead of just brushing it under the carpet pretending it wasn't happening as I do most things in my life. But I still had to deal with it on my own. I only had to wait 7 days.
Surprisingly when the biopsy results came in they were more promising than the first. I have a condition called Lichenoid Mucositis. It's causes are many including gum chewing and smoking. It produces lesions of varying description but the good news is that seldom do these lesions evolve into squamous cell carcinomas. More good news was that it appears the lesion he removed from my cheek was complete and surrounded by healthy cells. This condition is incurable but may come and go over the years. It will involve another surgery to remove and biopsy a few more lesions that have spread to my right cheek as well as the 2 on my throat. It will also require me to make continuous visits to be aware of any new lesions but it was very promising to learn that my primary condition is not oral cancer as originally thought. For that I am very thankful. I have been doing my best to stick to my doctors recomendations. Cut down on the smoking, chew fruit flavored gum as cinnamon and spearmint can cause somewhat of an allergic reaction to this condition and keep myself as stress free as possible. Lighten my schedule and keep smiling. That part is not a problem for me. I will always find a reason to smile.
So, the moral of this very long story? Don't put off the dentist! He may have some scary sounding tools in that room of his that can put you off, but cavities may not be the only thing he notices that you wouldn't otherwise. Thee lesions, they are small and they are under the skin. They don't hurt, I can't feel them at all. If it wasn't for my regular cleaning, I would have had no idea. The odd thing is that this condition is very common so when your dentist office calls to reminding you of your upcoming appointment, tell them you will be there...work can afford to wait, you cannot.
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