Close to seven weeks ago I noticed a small bump develop to the right side of the midline of my hard palate. It's probably right in the middle between the front of my mouth and the soft palate. I wouldn't describe it as a growth, rather it is a tiny swelling beneath the tissue with normal tissue coloring. It's maybe 2-3mm long and 1-2mm wide

Over seven weeks I have noticed that the swelling comes and goes. A couple of times over this period I have felt an almost flattened mass first thing in the morning, only to have it "raise" into a tight knot within minutes. These are the times when I have "popped" it, which leads to some minor bleeding, some flattening, and often a week or two weeks of no swelling; but then it comes back.

I work with an oral surgeon and first mentioned it to him two weeks after my initial discovery. He told me that the mouth has many minor salivary glands and perhaps one was infected. He also noticed that I was having a really bad allergy season (lots of uncontrollable sneezing, watery/itchy eyes) and perhaps it was related. It did make me think that the swelling occurred during the same time period that my allergies began to act up. Anyway, he suggested that we wait another week and he would look at it.

The next week came and I had no swelling, so I didn't ask him to look at it. In fact I went about seven days with absolutely no swelling. However, it swelled into that "knot" one morning (over the weekend) and so I popped it again. I had the oral surgeon look at it that next week (four weeks since first notice) and he said it didn't look suspicious, but he also didn't quite know what it was. He took a panograph and didn't see any bony involvement. He left it up to me if I wanted a biopsy and I decided not to.

It came back the next day, like a knot, I popped it, and for two weeks it remained flat. Even though it didn't come back, I decided to have the oral surgeon take a biopsy of the area (looked like scar tissue) and I should hear back in about two weeks. He feels over 90% sure that it is nothing.

I really never thought much of it until getting the biopsy, and perhaps the word "biopsy" made me paranoid. Now I find myself reading the internet about rare minor salivary gland tumors and even though I know I can't diagnose myself on the internet, you can't help yourself.

What do you think?

Hi ntx

That it recurs is not a good sign (but not necessarily cancer). Did the oral surgeon give you any antibiotics? Please try to stop popping it; not only will popping it prevent healing, but it might also cause whatever is in the blisters spread.

Nobody likes to have a biopsy, but doing things we don't like is just one of the (sucky) joys of being a grown-up.

Instead of going back to the oral surgeon, have you looked into seeing an ENT? I'm distressed by the fact that he (or she) keeps putting you off.

Please let us know how things turn out.

Julia

I have this SAME condition! Same location. It's not painful, just comes and goes or I can "pop" it and it will return. If you learn anything about this, please post. I will do the same. bass_quest@hotmail.com

Sorry for the delay in my update, it's been a very busy summer!

I got the results back after an agonizing 16 day wait. The diagnosis was a MUCOCELE. A mucocele is very uncommon in the hard palate, but not unheard of. I have a history of eating hard breads and probably traumatized that area and popped a minor salivary gland.

I hope yours turns out to be the same j.a.!

Hey ntx!

Thanks for the update. I'm glad that it turned out to be (relatively) minor.

Julia

Hi J. A.

Have you seen a doctor or dentist about the bump on the roof of your mouth? You mentioned that you had the same symptom in the same location as ntx, but please bear in mind that that does not necessarily mean that you have the same problem. Also, this site is not meant as a diagnostic tool.

Please let us know how everything turns out.

Julia

Hi, no I'm still monitoring it closely as it comes and goes. I think seems to react to what I eat such as spicy or acidic food which leads me to believe that ntx was on the right track when she said it might be a mucocele. If anything worsens or changes I will have it looked at for sure. Thanks. -J

I get these little sore every once in a while on the roof of my mouth. It's usually from eating something hot or irritating it from eating food. Do these bumps come as a result of injuring the roof of your mouth or do they just appear without any cause?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sherrod,

I've had similar things but they've cleared on their own and occur rarely. I would avoid eating overly heated and spicy foods for a couple weeks and see if that doesn't help.