Can a dentist be sued for failing to see something on an x-ray?

A month ago, I broke a tooth at work and when I tried to get an appointment with my normal dentist of 6 years, I ended up having to see the other dentist for the first time. Upon looking at my x-rays from the last several years, he noticed a large black mass where my wisdom teeth used to be on my lower right jaw and told me to see a specialist. Turns out it was a tumor and has been there for over 5 years and showed on every x-ray I had taken there. I am scheduled to go in for surgery the 30th of July and will do a biopsy to determine if it is cancerous or not. My concern is that my dentist missed something that stared him in the face for several years and it took the other dentist in the office 5 minutes to see it. I was also told if I have been hit in the jaw or bit down hard enough it could have completely shattered my jaw. I was just wondering if this could be considered malpractice. Thanks!