...Kind of gross... Scabs IN the mouth? Or... "What did I just take out of my mouth?"

Factual Questions
1

Background: Went to the dentist about a month and ago. I had to get three fillings (BTW, do not let yourself go 6 years without seeing a dentist). My tongue is apparently very protective of my throat. So much that is actively tried to block the dentist from working too far back in my mouth. My tongue also didn’t like the little suction tube and decided to push it back and hold it against one spot on my inner gums. This created a sore, a very painful sore inside my month. Two weeks later I went in for more work and the dentist commented that it looked like it was healing. This time he put a small bit of gauze on the end of the suction tool to pad it against my gums.

It slowly has been getting better. Today I noticed it wasn’t bothering me at all. So the tongue went exploring and found the spot and noticed that there was a hard kind of scab over where the sore was… then the tongue pried the scab loose (GROSS!) and I took it out of my mouth.

It does look like a scab… but it is a toothy kind of off-white and is hard as bone. It is tiny in size. About the size of an emoticon (that’s really the one thing I could think of) Running my tongue over the spot where the sore was, the gums feel soft but don’t hurt at all.

So what was it that I took out of my mouth?

2

Probably plaque.

That’s my edjumacated guess, anyway. I’ve seen it a few times in patients I had to came to me for their complaint about funky things in their mouths. They either didn’t have a dentist, or didn’t recognize that my stethoscope meant dentistry wasn’t one of my skills.

3

Tho if you actually pried this thing off of your actual gum, plaque would be less likely. But the gum may have receded enough due to the irritation to allow plaque by it to break free.

But see your dentist for actual, factual information.

4

and don’t take too long getting to the dentist.
If your gums go wonky, you can wind up with dentures… and gums can sometimes go wonky quicker than you’d like to think about.