Bony lump near molar

[carriewriting]

I'm not sure what triggered it, but for the past few weeks I've been down the oral cancer rabbit hole. Thankfully the spots I was worried about have cleared up, but in looking at my mouth so much, I've now noticed I have what feels like a marble above my 2nd upper right molar on the tongue side. It looks like normal tissue, just sticks out.

Couldn't help myself and Googled enough to discover that bony growths (torus/tori) don't grow in this area. They grow on the midline of the roof of mouth or on the cheek side of the upper molars.

After that I bailed before I could find anything scary.

Off to the dentist tomorrow, but feeling anxious about what on earth this could be. I have had work and root canal on the molar next to this one (a long time ago), so I'm hoping it's something benign related that.


Really wishing I hadn't put off going to the dentist during 2020 now!

[carriewriting]

I saw the dentist today and she took x-rays and photos. She said it feels bony but she wants the senior dentist to look at the pictures and I'll then be referred to an oral surgeon for review. She showed me the x-ray and there's a shadow but she was non-commital about what it is or could be. There's no sign of infection or anything in the tooth that's causing the swelling. So the waiting game begins.

[carriewriting]

The dentist rang me this morning to say she's referring me to an endodontist. She said the root canal on the tooth next to the lump/swelling doesn't look good so she wants him to look at that and decide if that's what's causing the issue or if I need to go to an oral surgeon about it. Appointment is 3 weeks away. I'm pretty proud of how I'm managing my anxiety about it. Although I'm 80% convinced it will be something bad, I'm relatively calm about it (for now).

[Fishmanpa]

Good on you for taking care of business and yeah, a complication from the root canal is the rational explanation. Let us know how you make out.

Positive thoughts

[carriewriting]

Thanks Fishmanpa. I had a brain MRI last year to check for MS and the films have images of my face so I'm hoping if there was anything really sinister it would have been picked up by that.

[carriewriting]

Hi, reporting back as I've saw the endodontist today. He'd looked at the xrays the dentist took and said he was pretty confident the lump was a bony exostosis eg. benign bony lump. Then he examined me and took photos of the lump before doing his own xrays. After that he said he was still confident it is benign. He said the surface of it looks normal which is a good sign and said I should keep an eye on it and come back if it grows or gets an ulcer on it.

So this is good news and even better I have managed my health anxiety pretty well in the lead up to the appointment. The old "what if he's wrong" thoughts are still there, but I'm getting better at accepting there's no such thing as certainty.

[BlueIris]

That's awesome, congratulations!