Mouth cancer - Would I know if I had it? Or a cyst?

[Emilycreaven999]

Hi all,
A bit panicked as this last week has been a bit of a mess!
Saw my dentist last week after noticing a large painless swelling under my teeth on the left bottom.
He thought it was an abscess and after a week of antibiotics, although it had gone down its still there, just harder and feels hard now in comparison.
Now he thinks it's a cyst, and has referred me to the hospital urgently as he could see how worried I am by it.
Lost confidence in him to be honest and terrified it's something more than a cyst, how would I know

Bump

You seem convinced this is something sinister. No one on here can tell you, that's why you've been referred to hospital. Why have you lost confidence in your dentist? Even cases that we are almost certain are cancer only get seen within two weeks so you wouldn't have been seen by now anyway.

There's nothing anyone can say on here other than wait and see what they say at the hospital and try not to worry.

Fwiw, mouth cancers most often present as ulcers that don't heal in patients who smoke and drink. Not always but that's the classical presentation and if you qualified at Birmingham they all have moustaches bony lumps are less of a concern.

I did ask you earlier what the teeth were like next to the lump, filled? Crowned? Root canal? I can't remember what you said.

Well because he initially told me it was an abscess.
It's underneath my left gum along the last 3 back teeth.
They've all had work done, 2 have had large fillings and 1 a root canal