Any dentists out there? Re: mouth ulcer and hospital referral

[ijustwanttobeme]

DD (20) is away at Uni.

Since mid Nov she has suffered with a mouth ulcer. Although it comes and goes , it doesn't ever go away. She put it down to stress, and didn't even mention it to our family dentist when she had a check up at Xmas

She called to say, it was causing her some pain and had gone to a local dentist near uni. He's made an emergency referral for her to get seen and said the dentist wants a biopsy taken. Other than that she couldn't tell me.

Obviously googling why this may be the case, has brought up all sorts of scary stuff..

Should I be worried or can there be 'lesser' reasons why he may have done this?

to clarify: ever go away completely.

I'm not a dentist, but my dad had non healing mouth ulcers, had them biopsied etc, and in the end it turned out they were due to an automimmune condition. Which of course has its own problems, but much better than other scary things.

If you search my name & Ulcer you will see I have had them for years - biopsy was clear & B12 & Zinc deficiency have been diagnosed

& taking supplements has really minimised them

I second B12 and zinc deficiency.

She would benefit from good quality multi vits and minerals and additional zinc and b12.

Guidelines are usually to refer non healing ulcers after three weeks. This isn't the same as aphthous ulceration which heals in one spot and recurs somewhere else.

OP, we always like to know what is causing something unusual. It's highly likely to be just an ulcer and then the cause of that can be investigated.

I can't offer much more than that because I know you have been googling and all it talks about is oral cancer really. There are dozens of conditions that cause ulcers from sharp fillings to allergies to lupus to vesiculobullous diseases, IBS, Crohns, diabetes and so on and so forth.

Suffice to say, if it is an awful diagnosis, no other condition is as curable if it is caught early. Fact.

She should get seen within 2 weeks?

& MrsMorton will remember me because I've had years of tests for all sorts of things (some still ongoing) & the ulcers have finally reduced after the B12 & Zinc

I would never have believed anyone who told me to take supplements on a website - I had to have them prescribed by a GP (& then I couldn't take them - but that's another story)

Thanks for the replies.

So hopefully an appt by first week of Feb? Not too bad really. Would they do the biopsy at that appt, or ask her to come back?

I'll text her in the morning about taking B12 and zinc supplements. I know she began taking a multi vitamin when she was home in the summer. (because I bought them for her!). But whether she's taken them since she went back in Sept, I have no idea.