My boyfriend has had a lump on the right hand side of his upper jaw for the last week. The lump is actually on his jaw at the back of his mouth and about 1cm in width.

He is a fit and healthy 22 year old, he smoked for about 4 years but has stopped now.
He has an appointment with the doctor next Wednesday.

I've been looking on web sites and have scared myself with thoughts of cancer!

Just wondered if anyone has any advice?

Good Morning Charsh,
There are two bits of advice I can offer:-
1) make sure he sees the doctor as planned next wednesday.
2)Give up worrying.
The usual advice we give is; if you have something unusual in your mouth which does not clear up after three weeks then see your dentist/doctor, but no one will complain if you go earlier.
There are many reasons why lumps appear in the mouth, most of them are easily dealt with. Cancer is one of the reasons but diagnosed early the treatment is not too dramatic and the survival rate is good.The problems start when the lump is ignored, so no one can afford to take the risk.To put things into perspective there are about 4500 mouth cancers diagnosed per year in the UK so in a town of 20,000 or so that amounts to one per year,even so no one can afford to take the risk
Giving up smoking was a smart move,now you two get on with enjoying the weekend. Please keep us posted,I will be watching this forum on wednesday evening.
Keep Smiling
John

Thanks John for your advice, it really helped put my mind at rest.

My boyfriend has just had his appointment and the doctor has said, as you mentioned, that if it is still there in 2 weeks then he should go and see a facial surgeon. The doctor didn't seem to worried though and he thinks it should clear up hopefully.

Thank you again for your reply, i really appreciate it.

this is my first post here. I cant believe I have been searching for this all day as it is something you dont want to think about. 2 weeks ago, i dsicovered a lump on the roof of my mouth just to the left of the middle about half way along my mouth. I thought it was a blister at first and 'attacked it' with my fingernail to see if it would burst, but no. It became sore and so i left it and started to worry. It seems to go down (it feels like it does with my tongue) at times and then at other times feels more sensitive. It feels like its about 4 mm across. Almost every site i look at mentions cancer as the main cause of this and I am dead scared. I smoked about 15 years ago and have had the odd 1 or 2 since giving up. Even when i smoked it was about 5 a week maximum. I do have a drink every now and again. I have always suffered with catarrh and nasal problems since a child. Does anyone have any idea what ELSE this might be?

thanks

Sorry to hear you have had alump 2 weeks. Most of us are likely to say go see a gp or dentist. To be honest I think it's always worth going to see about this sort of thing as you register the problem in records and that can be useful later if need be. If its nothing so much to the good, but if it is something then you have date when it started to be bothersome and probably the doc might record the size etc. Weeks do really fly past with things like this so a time frame is always good.

Please don't always think the worst. Not everyone has cancer that has amark inside their mouth. If you are indoubt then just get it checked today or tomorrow. If in a few weeks you feel the Gp did not diagnose well go back and see someone else.

Cancer is frightening, but many of us who have had treatment and the trauma of hearing words like SCC carcinoma are still here. Early treatment though if it is anything is always best.