What Do Early Signs of Tongue Cancer Look Like?

Tongue cancer is a serious form of oral cancer. In most patients, there may be a few to no symptoms in the early stages of tongue cancer.

In most patients, there may be a few to no symptoms in the early stages of tongue cancer. Patients may not experience any tongue cancer symptoms at all, especially if it’s in the back of the tongue. Oral cancer affecting the front tongue is often visible. A few early signs and symptoms of tongue cancer are

• Painful sores in the mouth: Most commonly, tongue cancer starts as a painful sore in the mouth that doesn’t heal even after a few weeks.
• Lesions/lump or ulcer on the tongue: Any kind of abnormal growth on the tongue should be viewed as a warning sign if it does not heal within a week. The lesion may appear on the tongue or under the tongue where the tongue rests on the floor of the mouth.
• A patch on the tongue
  • Patches on the tongue are most commonly either red (erythroplakia) or white (leukoplakia).
  • Red patches are more likely to be cancer than white patches. However, any patch in the mouth that is persistent for several weeks should be biopsied by a specialist.
• Difficulty speaking (dysarthria): This can occur when a tumor changes the way the tongue moves.
• Difficulty swallowing: This can be caused by anything from a bad cold to tongue cancer to other forms of oral cancer. However, if the condition persists or gets worse, it is better to get checked.
• Painful chewing: If it hurts when chewing food and there is no other underlying cause of soreness that can be identified (for example, a sore tooth), it’s good to consult a doctor to rule out tongue cancer.
• Numbness
  • Cancer quickly kills nerve cells as it spreads.
  • Numbness, especially in, under or on top of the tongue, may indicate a more serious problem if it doesn’t go away on its own.
• Recurrent bleeding from the mouth
  • Growths in the mouth that are cancer tend to bleed easily when accidentally scraped while brushing teeth or eating certain foods.
  • If there is a taste of blood in the mouth even without brushing or eating anything for a while, this symptom could indicate a more serious problem one that needs medical attention.
• Bad breath: As cancers grow larger, dead cells within the tumor (necrotic cancer) lead to a bad smell from the mouth (halitosis).

In some cases, the first sign of tongue cancer could be a lump in the neck. This means that the tumor has spread to lymph nodes in the neck. However, in tongue cancers, primary cancer in the mouth is usually noticed before it reaches these lymph nodes. In a few cases, patients may complain of earaches and tongue pain, which could be a symptom that cancer has advanced.