Hard lump on lower jaw

I hope you get more diagnostic tests (MRI, PET scan, biopsy) soon. Happy holidays to you.

Well, Sheep I never heard the term bony prominence before. It's amazing what can go on with the human body and the lliad of terms that can come with it, especially in the medical field. So I looked it up.

bony prominence

Any point on the body where the bone is immediately below the skin surface, which can be:

(1)Normal, these being known as bony landmarks; or

(2)Abnormal, which corresponds to reactive outgrowths of bone(exostoses), benign tumors (e.g., osteoma), or malignant tumors (e.g., osteosarcoma).

bony prominence

A part of the body with limited subcutaneous tissue over a bone. Examples include the heels, the iliac crests, and the sacrum. The skin that overlies a bony prominence is more prone to pressure ulceration than more padded body parts.

I think we are on the right track here.

I think he is correct in getting an MRI to see if it is bone as suspected, makes perfect sense because to just go in and not knowing and jabbing around on bone instead of some sort of tissue, well you know it just may chip a piece of bone off creating an infection or some other problem. This way he can be sure if it is bone or something else.

If it is bone I can imagine they would not need to do anything possibly since maybe your jaw got what might be considered a bone spur or something on it. That would be unless it would keep enlarging over time and cause a problem or discomfort.

If it is something else I guess they would go ahead with the biopsy.

I am impressed with your doctor he is taking it step by step and doing what is prudent in your situation to be sure the correct procedure is done to give you an accurate answer and not miss anything important.

So thanks for the update and we will see what you come up with next on this situation.

Also in the meantime do a search with these words "bony prominence on external lower jawbone"

You may find something there that means something to you in relation to your situation, I see the term Mandibular tori (bony growths) in the search results a lot but it seems to be referring mostly to bony growths inside the mouth.

I can't post a search results link here their site security rejects it outright.

Wishing You The Best

Take Care, God Bless

Russ

Sheep, in the beginning, I stressed the need to have an ENT involved in your case. At this point, it probably doesn't make a difference but I was just wondering do you have an ENT involved in your case with the other doctors? You may have an ENT and I missed it.

Also, yes so much information referring to bone growth in the mouth on the jawbone base of tooth upper and lower but I figure if it can form there it can form externally also under the skin.

Take care, God Bless

Russ

Very good news sheep, it should not be too much longer you should have a definitive diagnosis. If I am correct MRI's show great detail and they should be able to determine what is there.

Take care, God Bless

Russ

OK sheep, I am a little confused as to where you are at here with testing.

So you had an x-ray and an ultrasound, am I correct?

And the last thing I thought they were going to do was an MRI which should be pretty definitive.

But now you say she is referring you for a CT Scan.

So are you getting an MRI or a CT Scan or both just so I know where we are in this situation?

I am not sure exactly what to tell you I thought you would have a definitive diagnosis by now one way or the other.

I looked back over this thread and you said around Dec. 11th... "Hi there I had my ultrasound today

he said he thinks it might be a bony prominence but is unsure so he will arrange for me to have a MRI scan

I assume if he thinks it might be none that he doesn’t want to risk doing a biopsy but that assumption might be wrong

I have to wait for his report to my GP to then have my MRI arranged, so reassuring but his not entirely sure"

So did they not do the MRI and now want to do the CAT Scan?

Anyway, I agree with you her opinion can put you at ease but it still is not definitive as to what this bump is now and as you said it is new so it has just recently started.

I would definitely talk to your dentist about it and I would think if they get the proper scan that should tell them all they need to know but you may still need a biopsy somewhere down the road.

Has this bump grown since you first posted about it?

This thread was started in November and it is nearly the end of January so here we are 3 months in and it seems we don't know any more than when we started. You need an answer on this and I think you should have had one by now. I would push for a quicker scan.

Wishing You The Best

Take Care, God Bless

Russ