Question for people who do not suffer with health anxiety

[Pompompurin1]

Hi there,

I wondered if people could give me a bit of perspective please… A question for those of you who do not suffer with health anxiety.

If you had a hard lump on the roof of your mouth for several weeks (about 3 to 4 mm in diameter and painless, normal skin over the top of it)….. and you saw two different dentists and they both said it was blocked the salivary gland and nothing to worry about…. But it didn’t go away…..

Would you:

A. Decide that it is a blocked salivary gland, think “great nothing to worry about” and forget it.

B. Continue to worry about it and monitor it.

C. Push for a referral to oral surgery

I am trying very hard to do A but failing, so I thought I would gather other perspectives as sometimes it’s easy to get caught up on your own head.

(I am seeking help for my health anxiety so no need to point this out, I know this would be pointed out with helpfulness in mind but I am already seeking help…)

A.

and I wouldn’t have got a second dentist to look, I’d have believed the first one

A

But I would also keep a relaxed eye on it and go back if it became larger or painful.

I’m a wait and see / treat it at home type person. Very few things actually need medical treatment in my experience and going to the doctor doesn’t usually make me feel much better unless I specifically need something such as antibiotics

I HAVE bad health anxiety and if this was me seeing TWO different dentists who both said nothing to worry about would have put me at ease. If they thought for any reason it was worrisome they would have referred you to the dental hospital for biopsy.

I'd keep an eye on it, but as a side note, sucking lemons/sour sweets gets your saliva glands really working and can shift a blockage! My husband had a blocked saliva gland and sucking lemons shifted it.

A, but go back to the dentist if it gets bigger/ starts to hurt/ changes shape etc

Thank you all.

it’s been there for 6 weeks. I was told they are normally self limiting (eg 6 weeks) but can take months to go.

I asked if I need to go back and the response was only it it gets painful or bigger. It’s very confusing as sometimes it seems bigger but sometimes not. I have private health insurance that doesn’t cover dentistry but the dentist can refer me to oral surgery which is covered. I haven’t requested this yet and was hoping not to.

I am having help for my HA as stated in OP but Rome wasn’t built in a day.

I second this. I had a saliva gland which was blocked badly enough to become infected and I ended up being admitted to hospital for 3 days (this was completely obvious by the way - it wasn’t just a lump in my mouth, the whole of the side of my face swelled to twice its normal size and I couldn’t open my mouth!

I needed antibiotics but actually the underlying problem was cured by sucking 3-4 lemons a day. Revolting but very effective!

A

I would go back and tell them you are really worried and please can they refer you

A

because I don’t know more than two dentists

A

I would go A and just try to think of it as a pimple, but I’d also google for advice.

the advice is to suck on lemons/sour candies to get your salivary glands flowing, drink lots of water and try massaging the area. You can try using a hot compress to swell the glands. You could use a cotton pad with cooled boiled water to do that, and then massage the area.

I'd go back to the dentist and ask again about it. What exactly is a blocked saliva gland? What causes it? How can you make it go away? Can it lead to other illnesses?

Then if I wasn't satisfied with the dentists reassurance/explanation I'd go to the GP about it. And ask for a referral to a specialist.

I'm not remotely scared of dentists. And I had a breast cancer scare (all clear thank gawd) just last week so I'm not scared of getting things checked if they're unusual.

I wish you well. I'm sure it's nothing really bad. But there's nothing wrong with investigating it further if you feel it's not right. x

A

I’m not sure I’d have even been to have it looked at at all.