Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi all, just wondering if this has happened to any of you, and if so, what is it? I tried to do a search for this on the board, but didn't really come up with anything.

I have a little white-ish pimple-like thing the size of the head of a needle pin on my gum, right where I would guess the root of the front lower lateral would end. It just appeared overnight, and at first I thought that my tooth really moved and now the end of the root is sticking out. However, after feeling it more closely, I don't think it's the root, but rather a tiny, bony, pimple-ulcer of some sort. Freaky, huh? It looks just like a pimple would on my face, except I am afraid to squeeze it to see if anything comes out. Especially cause it hurts when I touch it, and it looks slightly more transparent than your regular pimple with pus in it. (Sorry if this grosses anyone out...).

It freaked me out to the point where I called the ortho and went for an emergency appointment. At the very first look, he said it was a tiny ulcer, but then he looked again, and decided he hasn't seen anything like this before. He said it reminds him of someone who has had an extraction of a baby tooth on top of an adult tooth and then a little piece of bone remained behind and creeped out to the gum. Well, I have not had any extractions, nor any sign of my baby teeth for about 15 years, so that can't be it. He said "we have to keep an eye on this thing."

Sorry for this long-winded explanation! But if anyone has had a similar experience themselves or heard of anything like this, I would really love your opinion. It worries me that even the ortho didn't know what exactly this thing is, but hopefully with the help of all you archwired members, the mystery will be solved

That kind of pimple thing can be a sign of infection in your gums. I would go and see my general dentist.

Well, i would highly suggest you to make an appointment with your dentist to see what it is, i don`t want to scarry you, but i had the very same thing you describe long before i got braces ( this thing has nothing to see with braces). Unfortunately, I didn`t pay any attention to it at that time, as i wasn`t so aware of my teeth before my braces, so, it stayed there for a while and finally they had to pull this tooth out, fortunately , i also needed an extraction on that side when i was getting braces, so, there were no too many regrets about that tooth.
As for my dentist, yes , he said it was an ulcer or kind of a small tumor and it looked the way you describe (small white-transparent ulcer which never got bigger).
Good luck and let us know what your dentist tells you....

Thanks for the replies, and the words of advice, Meryaten, ABraces and Platinum! For peace of mind, I did go see my perio today, and he said I don't have an infection. My gums are fine, and nothing shows up on the x-ray, so it's not an abscess.

Like my ortho, the perio said this feels like a bony ridge, just a bump on my bone that is prominent on the gum underneath the surface. He could unfortunately not explain how it could've just shown up to "prominence" overnight, and suggested I keep an eye on it for any changes, although it's not anything dangerous in his opinion, or nothing that needs medical/dental attention.

It's still a bit strange that neither the ortho nor the perio could tell what exactly it is, but since both of them say I shouldn't worry about it, then I guess I won't worry about it...