Expert: Tony Appleton BDS DPDS - 6/12/2007

Question
A couple of days ago I woke up to find what at the time I thought was a depression on the inside of my cheek. It was round, about the size of a 5p coin and the border was slightly raised while the inner was more depressed. Since then it has doubled in size. It is still circular, and still has a raised border. The inside is more raised now and doesn't feel depressed anymore, it's very soft. To look at it's pretty much the same colour as the rest of cheek-gums although a slight shade more yellow. It's completely painless, doesn't itch or cause me any discomfort at all. Any ideas what it is?! The only unusual thing that I've done recently is brush the insides of my gums with my toothbrush (which I don't normally do) and this I did once only, about a week before this patch appeared. I did wonder if it could be ringworm? But I've never heard of anyone getting it in their mouth. Any thoughts would be very gratefully received as I'm in Tanzania and dental care here is quite limited. Many thanks.

Answer
Hi Katie

I'm afraid it's really difficult to suggest what this could be without seeing it.  Has it given you any discomfort at all at any time?

If you can you should get someone to look at this, although I'm sure it's nothing serious it is rather unusual sounding.

Regards

Tony Appleton