Hi all, ok please bear with me I will try to keep this as concise as possible. Around 3 months ago I had a tooth extraction of a lower molar following a failed root canal. It was a pretty brutal extraction and the tooth did not want to give up. It seemed to be taking forever to heal and was still sore so my then dentist referred me to the oral-maxillofacial team. 

while I was waiting for this appointment, I was cleaning round my back teeth one day and I stuck my tongue out further than normal as I had been bothered by some soreness in the area and wanted to get a good look, my tongue had been sore since the extraction as it was constantly catching on the teeth next to it so I thought it may be trauma/irritation from teeth. Then I saw like a raised lump, with other smaller lumps around it, I managed to touch the area and it didn’t feel hard/firm and pretty much the same colour as my tongue, bit redder. I immediately checked the other side of tongue, hoping that would look the same as I know symmetry is generally a good sign. The other side had a couple of small flatterlumps only, not much to see.  

I changed dentist in the meantime as mine was leaving and I showed the new dentist who said he wasn’t concerned by it, mentioned normal tongue anatomy and lingual tonsils. Said watch for 2-3 weeks but he took photos to show an oral surgeon who does a clinic at the practice.  In the meantime, my referral from the other dentist came through and they said I just had slow healing but the extraction was healing and just to give it time. I showed him my tongue while so was there and he looked and said oh that’s a lingual tonsil, there’s no pathology there, then said see you have them the other side, even though there is hardly anything visible on the other side. He sent me on my way with an appointment for a TMJ splint to be made as I’ve had an issue with my jaw, exacerbated by the extraction and my now off bite. 

fast forward to this week when the oral surgeon at my dentist said he wouldn’t look at it and be immediately concerned, but because it’s only really on one side, he would do a biopsy to check. He can do this at the prevtice but it would cost as it’s private. The money isn’t so much the issue. It’s the fact I’ve had one doctor say don’t do anything and another say biopsy, I suppose it is reassuring that neither are overly worried, however I used to work in dermatology and assisted a lot of skin surgeries and there were a few lesions that nobody was concerned about but they biopsied anyway, and they turned out to be something, surprising everyone, doctor included. 

My job also involves talking all day and I worried about having a biopsy, I’ve already had time off due to what’s been going on and I don’t get paid when off.

Im 46 by the way ,non smoker, drank more when I was younger and out most weekends but rarely drink alcohol now. I don’t

know what to do.

I failed at concise sorry, but thanks for reading if you made it to the end.