My dad has oral cancer. I'm guessing its in its early stages? He has a black lump inside or on the outer part of his gums. He's gonna go to the doctors to get xrays in his mouth to see whats up. I'm kinda in the dark about this because they just told me a couple hours ago.

My mom also told me that he has a white sore spot on the other side of his gum. They said that its an infection he had gotten from a filling he recieved a long time ago (around 6 years).

I'm guessing the black lump is from smoking and consumtion of alchohol. He quite both around 6 years ago and he's 53 right now.

My question is pertaining to the white part. Is it really an infection he had gotten from the dental filling/replacing or whatever or could it be cancer that spread to the other side of the mouth?

Is the black lump an early sign of cancer? (its the size of one's pinky fingernail).

[This message has been edited by Crashkid (edited 08-02-2002).]

We couldn't answer whether it was cancer or not. Sounds like your dad is doing the right thing by having it checked out by a doctor.

It's good that he quit smoking and drinking (alcohol) too. The combination of both of those can substantially increase the probability of getting cancer.

I hope everything turns out OK.