Lump on ds jaw, worried

[pootlingalong23]

Wondered if anyone has had experience of this or similar.

Ds is 13 and fit and healthy. For a long time, maybe a year or more he's had a hard, pea sized lump on his jaw bone that moves around under the skin. Totally painless. I thought perhaps a small cyst or just one of those weird anomalies. It's on the jaw line but not something he can feel from inside his mouth.

Because it's never bothered him we pretty much forgot about it. He mentioned it again the other day and I'm trying to get him a GP appointment for this week just to get it looked it. I feel really bad for not doing anything sooner. Things online point to infection but it can't have possibly lasted this long if it were that.

Does anyone have any ideas?

No idea, but your dental practice can also refer to max-fax, not just GP. Hope it's nothing.

DS has had the same for years. He’s been for ultrasound scans and we have been told it’s due to an infection - at the latest appt the dr said it could take a long time to go.

I had similar once and it was a blocked saliva gland. I had to do a lot of flushing of mouth.

Probably a lymph node. A couple around my jaw and neck are pea-sized. GP said it was normal.

It could be an enlarged lymph node, sometimes they don't come back down after an infection.
My son and my friend's son both have multiple hard swollen lymph nodes around their necks. My son had his ultrasounded to check they were all ok and they were.
I definitely think it's right to get them checked but please don't worry. If it's been swollen for a year and it was something sinister I think he'd be showing other signs now xx

Yup, this is my guess too, having had similar.

If he’s had a blow to the jaw, say by falling off a bike, then sometimes a bone bruise healing can go a bit mad and build up a bony protrusion, or mandibular exostosis.

Yes, dental X-ray should show what it is.

The area itself isn't swollen. It's not something you can even see by looking at him, you can just feel it under the skin and it moves around. Really odd.

It's actually hard to say how long he's had it because it's not something I ever noticed until one day he said 'there's a weird lump on the side of my face'. It's completely painless so I think we all just tend to forget about it, including him.

Yes my son was the same, you couldn't see them, I could just feel them. Pain free and hard x

Did you get it checked out?
I'm wondering if it's a GP or a dentist issue.

I have what sounds like the same thing and from about the same age. I did have my chin smashed into concrete when I was about 7, so it could be related, but it moves like a cyst. I'm now 59 and it's never caused me any problems, you can't see it even when I shave my beard off.

I've always assumed it's just a cyst as I've had the same thing on my collar bone for as long as I can remember.

I'd go and see the dentist. It's probably harmless but it can - in very rare occasions - be something more sinister so it's worth getting it checked.

@pootlingalong23 yes I got checked out by doctor, they did blood tests and then did an ultrasound. All was fine.
I would think it was worth getting it checked by both doc and dentist but I don't think you need to worry about it xxx