Mouth lump photo

[rosekxx]

Probably TMI but I've had this slow growing grape sized lump on my gum for about a year. I'm frightened of the dentist so I've never got it looked at hoping it would go away. It's painless and I can feel it on the outside of my face, I had a root canal on this tooth about 10 years ago so I doubt it's an abscess as also it doesn't hurt. It doesn't really cause problems it's just annoying, I don't know if it's serious or nothing as it's not disappearing, it doesn't move, most of the time it's hard but occasionally goes soft. Any similar experience and turned out to be nothing.

You really need to get that checked out. I had a lump on the inside of my check, which turned out to be absolutely nothing, but that doesn't mean yours will or won't be. You really need to get that checked by a dentist.

Come on OP, you can't leave that, I'm also scared of dentists but you need to sort it out.

Make an appointment asap
It may be nothing serious but any lumps should be checked.

Definitely get it checked out. Not saying it is this but my friend had a jaw lump and it ended up being sarcoma/ bone cancer

It's not going to go away not getting it checked out. Do it tomorrow.

I'm also dental phobic, but have found a lovely young lady. I forced myself to go, otherwise I would end up like that "ten years younger" program with a mouthful of black stumps! (I had the same dentist for many years till she retired) DH had a thing like yours,he's always regularly gone (different dentist then) he said it was fine, tiny lump on gum (I wasn't happy having worked on specialist maxfax wards. A year later,it's the size of yours, his dentist panicked,sent him to this unit. He had to have it removed, sent off and wait for results to make sure it wasn't malignant. It was a fibroma, but it might not have been. I made DH change to my dental surgery. DD partner, similar thing(he's also now with my dentist) left it...it thankfully wasn't anything serious, but did then require hospital admission and surgery under GA. Be honest,tell them you are terrified, they've seen/heard it all.

Pick up the phone first thing tomorrow morning and make that appointment.

Tell them the truth - you've left it because you're afraid but now you're asking for help.

Go to the appointment.

Time to be the adult - you're in charge of your health and your life. And there'll be people who want you to do just that.

Set your alarm with a reminder.

You're really silly to leave it this long. Ridiculously so.

Likely a cyst or similar or a painless abscess (can happen as root canals fail) BUT nobody on here is qualified to advise you and you need to be looked at by a HCP to rule out anything serous or to be prescribed medication

It’s most likely nothing but get it checked!

I had something like that as a child. It was a fibroepithelial polyp or a giant granuloma cell. Either way, I had to have it surgically removed and had about a dozen stitches. Fortunately it wasn't cancerous, but it was growing.

you could start with the GP?

No. See your dentist. They’re the experts on all things oral.

My sister died from mouth cancer. She left it too late. Don’t be silly @rosekxx get it looked at.

So I was you this time last week! I found a lump at the back of my tongue!! I was absolutely petrified and ignored it for a while. My SIL did have mouth cancer and had a hideous year of chemo , tongue reconstruction etc .
I went to the dentist last Monday and was reassured within seconds that I was ok !
mMake an appointment in the morning,take a deep breath and get it checked out.Xx

I have a thing called a mucocele inside my lip - I've been reassured it's ok, nothing to worry about. But if I hadn't consulted I wouldn't be feeling relaxed now.

Have you made your appointment yet, OP?

Definitely need an appointment, like yesterday.

I'm going to call now.

Thankyou for the advice I know it seems silly to leave it so long, I'm just petrified of dentists it's difficult to just go when you have a phobia

I guess it depends on what it is that most scares you about the dentist, but if the thing that you're most scared of is actually having them touch your teeth or use dental instruments, you could just ask the dentist to look only at the lump on your gum and not do anything else to your mouth - at least to start with. Ideally they would do a proper full check-up, and you might find you can manage that once they've looked at the lump and you're already in the chair and have acclimatised a bit. But if you really absolutely cannot bear anything else, then just have them look at the lump.

Good luck - you can do this! And I promise you that if you explain when you make the appointment that you have a severe dental phobia, they will take that into account. They will definitely have had lots of patients before who feel the same way as you, and will have helped patients through that anxiety before.

As a child my dentist cause many problems for me and a lot of pain by a few failed procedures, ever since I'm terrified I don't like being touched or looked