Oral Surgery Pathology

[ninety5eclipz]

I’ve recently went to the dentist after neglecting my dental health since prior to COVID. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. Need 2 chipped teeth capped and 1 previously capped tooth root canaled. After my exam I started taking better care of my teeth and flossed a lot more. On my lower right side between my back molars and cheek a felt a hard, painless dome shaped bump under my gum. The bump is about the diameter of a small pinky end of the finger. It seems to be pointed toward the front of my mouth and not to the side. In this general area I had a wisdom tooth yanked several years ago. I’m a 49 white male. There is no pain, no headaches, no fever, no problems chewing, no discoloration on the gum, not noticeable from the outside and no sinus issues. (Although I did in the last year have sinus issues caused by cpap that were exaggerated by afrin addiction. I have in the last 3 months detoxed, changed my cpap habits and gave no sinus congestion at all for 3 months). Fast forward to today and I went in and had 1 cap put in. The dentist did a pano X-ray and is referring me to oral surgery pathologist for further scans. I’m freaking out because I have high anxiety which I am on meds for. I am a tooth grinder. I get routine bloodwork done every 3-6 months at my PCM and they have all come back normal for years. Any advice, support or information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[MattKW]

Have you considered it might be a torus? You can Google"for images of "buccal mandibular torus"or go here - I have tori that look like those in the 3rd photo. They're benign, altho catch a bit of annoying food like muesli sometimes. I've only ever referred 2 patients off for removal, and that was because the patients were going to get dentures.

 

[ninety5eclipz]

Matt, thanks. I guess it can’t be ruled out but I cannot see anything in my mouth that looks like any of the pictures. There is nothing visible as it it tucked way down in the back corner under soft tissue. Poking around is the only way to feel it. I guess I’ll just have to wait to see what comes up on the scans.

 

[MattKW]

Let us know the results, and I'd be interested to see the scan. There's always something new to learn. Good luck.

 

[ninety5eclipz]

Let us know the results, and I'd be interested to see the scan. There's always something new to learn. Good luck.

 

[ninety5eclipz]

Haven’t been seen yet but here is scan. The problem area is bottom right (as seen from first person pov). Between my last tooth on bottom and cheek under soft tissue.

 

[ninety5eclipz]

Let us know the results, and I'd be interested to see the scan. There's always something new to learn. Good luck.

Here are my radiology scans and results

 

[MattKW]

Interesting. Look like shotgun pellets!

 

[ninety5eclipz]

Interesting. Look like shotgun pellets!

That’s actually funny you say that. About 10 years ago after I got out of the military I went to a civilian dentist. He asked me if I had ever been shot on the face with a BB gun. He said there was something in there that was not biological but to just leave it unless it starts to cause problems. I completely forgot about this until recently. The upper one between the 2 teeth is actually a filling. The lower one is not. I think it was something that was left in there when I had 2 wisdom teeth (1 on each lower side) removed just before I retired from the military. Is this something of concern I should have removed? It causes no pain or issues. Just a bump.

 

[MattKW]

Of no concern.