A COMMON ORAL LESION: AN IRRITATION FIBROMA
Have you ever had a bump of tissue in your mouth, usually in areas where you seem to bite yourself? It was likely an irritation called fibroma.
According to dictionary.com, a fibroma is “a benign tumor derived from fibrous connective tissue.” Connective tissue is the tissue under the lining tissue.
The most common location for this is in the cheeks where the upper and lower teeth meet and can cause irritation upon closing.
So what should you do about it? Most of the time we recommend having the tissue removed because the continuing irritation could lead to cancer although this is uncommon. The tissue can be removed in the traditional surgical way or by using a soft tissue laser. Either way it is a quick appointment.
Once the lesion is removed, the source of the irritation needs to be removed, or habits (like biting your cheek) need to be controlled.
When I was a child my father had a lesion at the corner of his mouth, one on each side. He had them surgically removed and they never came back.
The public is usually very slow in addressing these lesions. Only one-quarter of the population goes to the dentist regularly and another quarter goes on an annual basis (usually for some dental emergency). This means that the other half won’t go in a given year. If you belong to the avoidance group, it is important to get this checked out because it may not be this entity and not a benign lesion. That would be one condition that you surely don’t want to wait on. A patient’s chances of having successful treatment of a cancer depends on how early it is diagnosed and treated.