Pathologic lesions of the head, neck and oral cavity are not uncommon. Some lesions of the face and oral cavity may present with symptoms of swelling and/or pain, but many are asymptomatic. For that reason, a majority of head, neck and oral lesions are discovered by your general dentist and in many cases referred to an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon. The role of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon in these cases is to diagnosis and treat the 
lesion. The way this is done is by means of biopsy which may remove the lesion entirely or only a small portion. The lesion/specimen is then sent to a pathologist for a definitive diagnosis. In some cases of benign facial nevus/moles or skin tags, this may not be necessary. At Northwest Oral and Facial Surgery our surgeons are well trained to handle most all hard and soft tissue pathology of the head, neck and oral region ranging from mole and skin tag removal to hard and soft tissue cyst/tumor diagnosis and removal.