Small lump inside cheek

[MeganE]

Yesterday, I wiggled my nose from the feeling of an oncoming sneeze and felt a bit of tenderness in my left cheek in between my nose and the prominent part of my cheekbone. No tenderness to the touch, just when I moved my nose very specifically to the right. That pain is not present anymore, but I can feel a small lump inside of my cheek with my tongue. It is about an inch away from my nose to the left, and horizontally in line with the bottom of my nostrils and vertically in line with my iris. It doesn't hurt when I touch it with my tongue, and I'm not sure how to check if it's "mobile" or not. Help?

[Going home]

It could be a blocked saliva duct...there are loads inside the mouth and mostly they are on the fleshy parts of the inside of our cheeks, although having said that, if they do become blocked they can be really painfull with a sharp feeling like you're sucking lemons...ouch! It could also possibly be the start of a small mouth ulcer, and sometimes we can just get a sore spot where our teeth rub the skin on the inside of our mouths, there's no particular reason why we get them...we just do.

Anna xx

[RLR]

This is simply a mucous retention cyst and is entirely harmless. Many such cysts tend to undulate in size over the course of weeks or months, sometimes disappearing altogether and even reappearing on occasion. The cyst's origin is actually within the mucosal tissues of the oral cavity and in this case, located at the outer border.

It is not associated with any type of mass such as a tumor and will self-resolve in time.

You're fine.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)