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I don't know where else to go..what's wrong with my gums???(pic)

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  • 01-01-2014 2:17pm
    #1
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭


    m a 27 year old non smoker, very occasional--4 beers a month--drinker. On Thursday--3 days ago--I noticed a weird sort of patch on my upper gum. I happened to shine a light on the spot and noticed it looked different. Granted I had never shined a light on the spot before. Anyway, I have posted a pic below and if anyone has any idea what it is, please let me know.
    Anyway, here's a photo:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/112780672@N04/11611200494/in/photostream


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    #2
    Oral Surgeon
    Registered Users Posts: 3,240 ✭✭✭Oral Surgeon


    adam4little wrote: »
    m a 27 year old non smoker, very occasional--4 beers a month--drinker. On Thursday--3 days ago--I noticed a weird sort of patch on my upper gum. I happened to shine a light on the spot and noticed it looked different. Granted I had never shined a light on the spot before. Anyway, I have posted a pic below and if anyone has any idea what it is, please let me know.
    Anyway, here's a photo:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/112780672@N04/11611200494/in/photostream

    I don't see anything!! This is like taking a photo of your car engine and asking a mechanic to tell you what's wrong... Go see your dentist if you are worried op. no one can help you on line...


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    #3
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭adam4little


    Oral Surgeon wrote: »
    I don't see anything!! This is like taking a photo of your car engine and asking a mechanic to tell you what's wrong... Go see your dentist if you are worried op. no one can help you on line...

    Those whitish rough looking spots above the teeth don't look like anything? They don't show up under normal lighting just when te flash is turned on on my phone.


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    #4
    Milly33
    Registered Users Posts: 8,638 ✭✭✭Milly33


    just go to a dentist


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    #5
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭adam4little


    Milly33 wrote: »
    just go to a dentist

    It's hard to see a dentist on New Year's Eve day. Sorry I am just freaking out a bit


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    #6
    Oral Surgeon
    Registered Users Posts: 3,240 ✭✭✭Oral Surgeon


    adam4little wrote: »
    It's hard to see a dentist on New Year's Eve day. Sorry I am just freaking out a bit

    What are you freaking out about? Just go tomorrow.


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    #7
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭adam4little


    Oral Surgeon wrote: »
    What are you freaking out about? Just go tomorrow.

    I'm freaked out about speckled leukoplakia.


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    #8
    Mingetoad
    Registered Users Posts: 120 ✭✭Mingetoad


    adam4little wrote: »
    I'm freaked out about speckled leukoplakia.

    It's not that. It looks like the thinner part of your gum has allowed the strong light through and you are seeing the reflection of the white bone underneath.
    Don't worry.


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    #9
    Oral Surgeon
    Registered Users Posts: 3,240 ✭✭✭Oral Surgeon


    adam4little wrote: »
    I'm freaked out about speckled leukoplakia.

    27 year old, non smoker minimal drinkers should not be worried about speckled leukoplakia. Go see your dentist if you are still worried.


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    #10
    btkm8unsl0w5r4
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,538 ✭✭✭btkm8unsl0w5r4


    Dr. Google has got you worried try goggling "normal gingiva" to put your mind at ease. While everything looks normal in your pictures, I would go to a dentist and have it checked out


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    #11
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭adam4little


    Just wanted to update everyone: went to the top oral surgeon in the state and he said I was fine. Absolutely nothing to worry about. This was after my PCP freaked me out by saying I had leukoplakia and urgently referred me to an ENT for second opinion (the reason for the freak out in the first place). Anyway, thank you all so much for your advice and kind words. Although we will (probably) never meet in person, know that each of you really helped someone get through a couple of hellish days.


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    #12
    btkm8unsl0w5r4
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,538 ✭✭✭btkm8unsl0w5r4


    Alls we'll that ends well. Always seek professional advice (in person).


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    #13
    Milly33
    Registered Users Posts: 8,638 ✭✭✭Milly33


    Sorted then happy days!! You should try and stay away from googling anything to do with health and stuff like that before seeing if you have it.. the net would tell you, you have everything. but all is well


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    #14
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭adam4little


    Well that's why I googled--my PCP said it was leukoplakia and was all freaked out. Anyone hazard a guess as to why that was? Inexperience with teeth?


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    #15
    Oral Surgeon
    Registered Users Posts: 3,240 ✭✭✭Oral Surgeon


    adam4little wrote: »
    Well that's why I googled--my PCP said it was leukoplakia and was all freaked out. Anyone hazard a guess as to why that was? Inexperience with teeth?

    Sorry, what's a pcp?!


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    #16
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭adam4little


    Oral Surgeon wrote: »
    Sorry, what's a pcp?!

    Primary Care Physician, Family Doctor, etc. here in the US


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    #17
    Oral Surgeon
    Registered Users Posts: 3,240 ✭✭✭Oral Surgeon


    adam4little wrote: »
    Well that's why I googled--my PCP said it was leukoplakia and was all freaked out. Anyone hazard a guess as to why that was? Inexperience with teeth?

    Well leukoplakia just means "white patch" so your pcp was not wrong. It's the significance or most often the insignificance of leukoplakia where you all went a little mad...


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    #18
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭adam4little


    Well I don't understand then. The oral surgeon called it leukoplakia too, but he also said it was something about the attachment of my bone under the gum. So, I guess the term itself is where the confusion arises. Because some leukoplakias are monitored, some are scrape an some are biopsied. The oral surgeon I saw said it was fine--no scrape, no biopsy, no follow up. That's where I'm confused I guess. I trust his judgement over my PCPs when it comes to the teeth thing, but I also don't understand how one like lost his marbles over it and one guy said it's normal.


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    #19
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭adam4little


    adam4little wrote: »
    Well I don't understand then. The oral surgeon called it leukoplakia too, but he also said it was something about the attachment of my bone under the gum. So, I guess the term itself is where the confusion arises. Because some leukoplakias are monitored, some are scrape an some are biopsied. The oral surgeon I saw said it was fine--no scrape, no biopsy, no follow up. That's where I'm confused I guess. I trust his judgement over my PCPs when it comes to the teeth thing, but I also don't understand how one like lost his marbles over it and one guy said it's normal.

    I guess this is where experience and trust in that experience comes in. The bane of a hypochondriac.


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    #20
    btkm8unsl0w5r4
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,538 ✭✭✭btkm8unsl0w5r4


    Its not leukioplakia as such, in that its not an abnormal thickening of the mucosa causing a white patch...its a normal white patch and as such is normal anatomy. I really hate when clinicians try to explain things to patients using jargon. Techno babble is for professionals to communicate complex ideas quickly, they are generally confusing and prone to misinterpretation by the lay and especially those with a penchant for internet searches. You should have been told that thats what gums look like for a lot of people and its no more worrying than your lips being pink or your eyes blue.


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    #21
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭adam4little


    Anderson Enough Nutshell wrote: »
    Its not leukioplakia as such, in that its not an abnormal thickening of the mucosa causing a white patch...its a normal white patch and as such is normal anatomy. I really hate when clinicians try to explain things to patients using jargon. Techno babble is for professionals to communicate complex ideas quickly, they are generally confusing and prone to misinterpretation by the lay and especially those with a penchant for internet searches. You should have been told that thats what gums look like for a lot of people and its no more worrying than your lips being pink or your eyes blue.

    To my oral surgeons credit he said he tries not to use the term "leukoplakia" with his patients because it's confusing. It was only in his medical dictation--where he also referred to me as a "well-nourished 27 year old" haha--that I had leukoplakic patches on the upper gingiva. He did this dictation on front of me, mainly to ease my mind I think.


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    #22
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭adam4little


    adam4little wrote: »
    To my oral surgeons credit he said he tries not to use the term "leukoplakia" with his patients because it's confusing. It was only in his medical dictation--where he also referred to me as a "well-nourished 27 year old" haha--that I had leukoplakic patches on the upper gingiva. He did this dictation on front of me, mainly to ease my mind I think.

    And I'm also in the works of getting a new PCP. He's a sensationalist. He told me over the phone once--when I asked whether I should come in because of a swollen neck lymph node--that "considering my age, I could have lymphoma and we need to check it out immediately." When I got there he hardly felt my neck and said "ok, see you later." This was two years ago.


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    #23
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭adam4little


    adam4little wrote: »
    And I'm also in the works of getting a new PCP. He's a sensationalist. He told me over the phone once--when I asked whether I should come in because of a swollen neck lymph node--that "considering my age, I could have lymphoma and we need to check it out immediately." When I got there he hardly felt my neck and said "ok, see you later." This was two years ago.

    Hey all--sorry, last question: so as per normal with me I'm scared I went to te wrong person. Is an oral surgeon more adept at diagnosing oral pathology than an ENT (who my doc initially referred me to)? Should I see the ENT as well?


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    #24
    shamrock55
    Registered Users Posts: 7,208 ✭✭✭shamrock55


    Op you need to go get that hypochondria looked at;)


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    #25
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭adam4little


    shamrock55 wrote: »
    Op you need to go get that hypochondria looked at;)

    So, I saw the ENT and he said it looked mostly normal. Then he looked at it under an "ear" microscope thing and said the patches were slightly thicker or something but he didn't seem concerned and he said we'd see each other in May. I swear--last question--why would he let slightly thicker tissue just hang around with no biopsy? He also said the areas weren't what he'd call white.


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    #26
    DerpKehoe
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 36 ✭DerpKehoe


    You probably have 12 hours to live.


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    #27
    adam4little
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭adam4little


    Ugh. Fair enough.


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    #28
    helimachoptor
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 21,643 Mod ✭✭✭✭helimachoptor


    Op, sorry this is very much getting into the realm of medical advice.

    You have sought the advice of specialists and they dont see any need for concern.

    If you have any more worries get a 2nd opinion from a ENT or go and see an OS for your gums.

    I'm locking the thread as we cant give out medical advice.


This discussion has been closed.
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