I wonder if anyone might have similar experiences to share on something which is freaking me out?
A couple of months ago, I had a nasty ulcer next to my lower left wisdom tooth - thought to be because the tooth was moving, my bite was changing, and it had angled towards the cheek a bit. The ulcer was difficult to treat, as it went in to the crease at the back, between the side and the back of the tooth, so it was there for a while. After that, I noticed a little nodule of tissue, which I thought might be scarring, so I hoped if I kept it clean, it'd be ok.
Last Sunday, I noticed that the nodule had grown, and become a flatish 'lump', which protruded over the wisdom tooth. It began to get food caught underneath it, and then I got pericoronitis.
The 'lump' seemed to be growing from my cheek, close to or at the site of the previous ulcer, kind of sticking out at a height, above the tooth, and you could lift it up and down. I wondered if it was a traumatic fibroma, rather than a gum flap associated with an impacted wisdom tooth (the tooth has erupted a bit more during my ALF treatment, but it was pretty much through anyway, and it looked to be fully through for a few months now).
I had a brace adjustment this week, and the dentist initially said it was an operculum, and that my options were to either scrub it like mad and hope it sorted it out, or to have the upper wisdom tooth out so that there wouldn't be anything to chomp down on it. I really don't want a tooth out if at all possible, so asked if he could cut away the tissue. He said yes, but that there was a high risk it would just grow back. He looked at the moulds taken when I first started with the ALFs, and said there WAS a bit of skin still over that wisdom tooth, but that it was really small. He then said it could be trauma related, due to my bite changing. So, I had the tissue taken off, although because of it's position, the dentist wasn't able to cut it right back, so there's still a tiny bit protruding from the back of the cheek.
I still feel fairly sure it's been traumatic, and am hoping that bringing my lower jaw further forward and correcting the bite would stop it happening again (a friend is an ex-dentist, who seemed to think this would help, too. They also said the area can be cauterised). I'm really quite scared of it growing back, because it was so painful! I just wondered if anyone has experienced a similar thing, and whether the tissue did grow back, whether they've had it cauterised, or it's resolved with jaw alignment and occlusal management.
I'd be grateful for any advice! Thank you.
