Meeting 4

4. Cancer? White Spot on Tongue

Three months had passed. It was time for Tony to visit his dental hygienist again.
The visit usually lasted two to three hours. The hygienist always went through a list of
questions about his health. Then she took his pulse and blood pressure. Last, she ran her
gloved finger all around the inside of his mouth, looking for and feeling for
abnormalities.
On this visit, she found one. It was a white spot on the side of his tongue. "We often
see this in smokers' mouths," she told him. She called the dentist over.
"How long has that been there?" he asked Tony.
"I have no idea," said Tony.
"We're going to have to do a biopsy," the dentist said. "It won't require more than
two or three stitches. We have to make sure this spot is benign. We'll do it right after
your teeth are cleaned."
Tony couldn't eat anything except soup for a couple of days after the surgery, nor
could he pronounce words clearly. If the white spot were malignant, how much more
surgery would be required? How much of his tongue would be removed? He regretted
all those years of smoking.
A week later, the dentist removed the stitches and told Tony that the white spot
was benign. Tony was relieved.
A few days afterward, Tony was talking to a friend of his who was a long‐time
smoker. "You really ought to quit," Tony suggested. "That was a good scare I just got
from my dentist. Getting part of your tongue cut out is not a pleasant thought."
"I'm not worried. You've got to die of something. I've got a greater chance of
getting killed by a drunk driving a white SUV than by some white spot on my tongue.
Besides, this is my only vice. I need to be able to enjoy something in life, don't I?"

Vocabulary
1. abnormalities
2. benign
3. biopsy
4. hygienist
5. malignant
 6. pronounce
7. pulse
8. regret
9. relieve
10. scare
11. soup
12. stitch
13. surgery
14. tongue
15. vice

>>Exercise
1. Had three years passed?
2. Was it time for Tony to visit his dentist?
3. Did the visit usually last two to three hours?
4. Did she ask him questions about his health?
5. Did she take his temperature?
6. Did she run her finger around the outside of his mouth?
7. Was she looking for and feeling for abnormalities?
8. Did she find an abnormality?
9. Did she find a white spot?
10. Was it on the top of his tongue?