Lumps in lower lip area tissue

[anc345]

I am a lip biter and have been since childhood. Over time I have realized I have a lot of different sized small hard lumps inside the tissue in front of my lower teeth and a few in my cheeks/upper lip area. They seem to mostly be in the areas I frequent bite, although some are not places I could reach.

They aren’t painful and they aren’t visible. I can feel them slightly with my tongue and a lot more with my fingers if I feel along the inside of my lower lip area. I suspect they’ve been there a long time but I only noticed how many there are recently. I get regular dental checkups and I had a full exam 2 months ago with panoramic X-rays and the dentist has never mentioned them.

Wondered if anyone else has similar or any idea what they might be? Plan to ask the dentist next time I’m in but thought I’d ask here too. Thanks.

 

[Dr M]

Difficult to say without a photo. I would think it might be mucoceles due to frequent trauma in the area. Usually not something to worry about.

 

[anc345]

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately there isn’t much to see to take a photo of. The lumps are more under the skin not on top so only really visible if you pull the skin tight and you can see there is a lump. There are many of them. 10+ I’d say and everything I’ve seen online about fibroid or mucoceles says there are rarely multiple? My dentist did examine my mouth 2 months ago at my regular appt but as I said these are under the skin and really only noticeable by feeling them with finger. I will check in with the dentist again but in the mean time just giving info in case anyone has an idea. I did see an old post from another chronic lip biter describing the same thing so guessing it may be related to that. Thanks again.

 

[MattKW]

Probably Fordyce granules, not mucocele.

 

[anc345]

Thank you. For anyone reading with similar, I saw my dentist and he said they are enlarged salivary glands. He isn’t sure why I have that many enlarged but said he’s not concerned.