I am quitting dip after trying it last week. i realized i had two white dots under my bottom teeth. it is now stringy white. i scraped it off. could it be cancer?

Cancer? : Probably not cancer, but a good scare to get you to stop that bad habit early, before real problems develop. If it was only a few times, your cells would probably not be that affected, except the white is probably tissue that is sloughing off, not pleasant and can be sore. Soft, non-spicy diet for next week and see a dentist for an evaluation.

Probably not: It takes time for tobacco to produce a cancerous lesion. A week is not long enough. It is a very good thing to quit using smokeless tobacco, however the white dots will probably disappear in a few weeks. If not, get an exam by an oral surgeon or someone trained in oral medicine or ent.

No: White string that you can rub off is leukoedema, which is normal and not dangerous. Leukoplakia, on the other hand, is a whiter patch that cannot be rubbed off. Prolonged irritation will turn them into erythroplakia, which involved growth of blood vessels. Acanthomas then occur as carcinoma in situ(cancer) may develop. I always warn my patient when leukoplakia starts to develop.

No: White patch or string that can be wiped off is leukoedema and/or plaque on the surface of oral mucosa. This is not a problem. Leukoplakia is when the oral epithelium started to thicken and change in characteristic. Leukoplakia is a white patch that cannot wipe off and is a warning sign. If continue to be irritated, the lesion would turn red (erythroplakia) as neovascular genesis occur. Cancer!