What to watch for
The lining of a healthy mouth is coral pink. Changes worth having looked at include a white or red patch that will not rub away, a sore that has not healed in two weeks, a lump or thickening anywhere in the mouth or neck, persistent numbness of the lip or chin, and unexplained bleeding.
The great majority of these turn out to be benign. The point of an examination is to establish that, quickly, rather than to wait and wonder.
How a diagnosis is reached
We begin with a clinical examination of the oral cavity, jaws and neck, supported by imaging where the lesion involves bone. If tissue needs to be examined, a biopsy is taken under local anesthesia and sent to an oral pathologist. An incisional biopsy samples part of a lesion, an excisional biopsy removes it entirely, and which is appropriate depends on size and location.
Results are discussed with you directly, and where treatment is needed we set out the options at the same appointment.
Cysts and benign lesions of the jaws
Cysts and benign tumours of the jaws often produce no symptoms at all and are found on a routine radiograph taken by your dentist. Left alone they expand and destroy bone, so removal, and where necessary reconstruction of the defect, is planned once the diagnosis is confirmed.
Nothing on this page replaces an examination. What is right for you depends on your imaging, your medical history and what you want out of the result. We will set all of that out at the consultation, in plain language.
