Please don’t send yourself into a tizzy.

What is a biopsy?

A biopsy means that some of your body tissue is removed and looked at under a microscope to find out what kinds of cells are present. Biopsies are a tool (like x-rays and exams) to gather more information on your health and make a diagnosis of something that seems abnormal or a little funky.

But why is a biopsy needed in my mouth?

Most likely, your dentist saw something that didn’t look completely normal, and wants more information. This could have been something on your gum tissue, or a change on your x-rays.

So it’s cancer?

Not necessarily. There are many types of changes to the tissues in your mouth that are not “normal” but are not necessarily dangerous. However, if there is something dangerous going on, like cancer, wouldn’t you like to know? We sure would!

I just noticed something in my mouth that doesn’t look right, should I let my dentist to know, or wait for it to go away?

We always recommend letting your dental or medical team know ASAP if you feel that something is different or not right with any part of your body.

But I think the thing in my mouth is from when I bit wrong on a tortilla chip. Do I need to worry?

While it’s not an absolute rule, we expect most injuries of the cheeks, lips, tongue, etc will heal within 2 weeks. Again, we would prefer that you at least let your dentist know if something is different or feels odd to you. And this is NOT A SITE WHERE WE CAN DIAGNOSE OR GIVE MEDICAL ADVICE. But if you have been sitting around with something in your mouth that isn’t healing…get yourself to the dentist.

My dentist saw something on my x-ray and said I need to see an Oral Surgeon. That’s a bad thing, right?

Its actually a good thing that your dentist was being thorough, saw something, and wants it checked out more. Again, most “odd” things that we see are not cancer. Some are very simple and are actually cured by the removal/biopsy, but other things can be more serious. This means they could either come back if not removed a certain way, or are a type of disease that could lead to a cancer. Either way, the goal is to find out what’s going on so you can be reassured, or it can be fixed!