Hi, My name is Dolores I visited my dentist on Saturday and she told me to see a dentist that deals in medicine. I have white patches on roof of my mouth and small purple spots on my lower gum bottom lip area, I am so worried as I googled it and the results have scared me so much, they are not painfull and I was not aware of them I have a very bad absess two months ago and was treated for a bad mouth infection. Do I have cancer?
Hi Laurie, You had a bad mouth hygiene and infection recently and got treated for that. Poor oral hygiene, ill-fitting dentures, smoking, reverse smoking, chewing tobacco/betel nut all are contributory factors for poor oral hygiene and halitosis-bad breath; And risk factors for Oral cavity cancers. Carcinomas of nasopharyngeal regions are the commonest carcinomas in Third World countries and cause is chronic irritation or exposure to tobacco. Leukoplakia- White patches of thickened mucosa in oral cavity andErythroplakia- Reddish discoloration of oral mucosa both are well known pre-cancerous conditions and if left unmanaged will portend a very poor ultimate outcome by getting converted into aggressive forms of carcinomas. So consult an ENT/Head neck surgeon as so as possible and get the lesions examined and preferably biopsy and HPR so to manage it before they become malignant. All the good health.