# What the hell IS that??
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 27, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296 "2006-07-27T17:47:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/1 "2006-07-27T17:47:23Z")
DISCLAIMER: Mr. S has seen a doctor. She referred him to our dentist, and he has made an appointment. If the dentist can’t help, he’ll go back to the doctor and get a referral to an ENT. I’m NOT looking for medical advice, just ideas/experiences. Void where prohibited. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
* * *
So anyway, Mr. S has apparently had some kind of lumpy thing on the inside of his mouth, behind his lower front teeth, for several weeks. He showed it to me yesterday. Kind of two white hard things, with a low, rounded surface protruding just below the gum line. He says they don’t hurt, but they’re just there and they bug him.
Today he went to the doctor. Verdict: It’s a “Ross.” Which means she doesn’t know what the hell it is. All she could say was that it’s bony. No duh. As I said above, she told him to see the dentist, and then an ENT if the dentist is stumped too, and he plans to do that.
He doesn’t even know for sure how long this thing has been there. The only related things he could think of was the slight bony growth on the side of his foot, which the doc had told him he could get shaved off surgically if it ever really started to bother him. So far it hasn’t gotten to that point.
Have any of the Dopers ever encountered anything like this?
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### Author:  [@Stainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stainz)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/2 "2006-07-27T17:55:49Z")
More teeth?
Seriously - I have heard of it before … somewhere …
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### Author:  [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/3 "2006-07-27T18:08:58Z")
Could they be supernumerary teeth, perhaps? I have some behind my upper front teeth, which I guess is the most common place for them to be.
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/4 "2006-07-27T18:08:52Z")
It does kind of look like part of a tooth. But there’s no irritation or bloodiness or anything like that, like you might think if he was having some kind of gum problem. I have mild gingivitis myself, and it looks nothing like this. The gum around the area looks pink and healthy.
And he’s 50 years old, a little late for getting a new set of teeth! 😉
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/5 "2006-07-27T18:13:09Z")
I suppose they could be. But as he said, you’d think our dental hygienist would have noticed and mentioned them. She’s pretty thorough.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/6 "2006-07-27T18:23:34Z")
My dad’s got one. I think it’s called something…maybe something like a planet name. You can have them for a long time with no problem, and then they start pushing your teeth all askew. The standard process for removal is hammer and chisel. Or so my dad’s dentist says.
Maybe a saturn?
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### Author:  [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/7 "2006-07-27T18:27:02Z")
Fun fact: According to Guinness, the most sets of teeth recorded in an adult human is four. It’s probably not that in his case since I’m sure a dental x-ray would pick it up, but that’s cool nonetheless.
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/8 "2006-07-27T18:31:27Z")
Well, after surfing around on **romansperson** suggestion of “supernumerary teeth,” I came across the term **odontoma.** Basically a toothy tumor. It seems to occur mostly in children, but I suppose the occasional adult shows up with them. Looks like they just take the thing out and all is well.
You’d think it would have shown up on an X-ray. I don’t know when his last dental X-ray was.
It’ll be very interesting to hear what the dentist has to say on Monday!
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/9 "2006-07-27T18:36:06Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#):
>
> My dad’s got one. I think it’s called something…maybe something like a planet name. You can have them for a long time with no problem, and then they start pushing your teeth all askew. The standard process for removal is hammer and chisel. Or so my dad’s dentist says.
>
> Maybe a saturn?
TORUS!
> [@](#):
>
> Bony Growth on Hard Palate
> by Douglas Hoffman, MD, PhD (see more from this expert)
> Email this page Print Oral Health Quiz [quiz]
> Orthodontics: How
> Much Do You Know? [quiz]
> Floss vs dental
> tape [q&a]
> Yeast Infection:
> Oral Yeast… [q&a]
> Options for
> anesthesia [q&a]
>
> My mother and I both have a hard bump on the roof of the mouth. The bump feels like a bone. My mother’s dentist told her it will keep growing and make it uncomfortable for her to eat. The dentist wanted her to get it removed. However, my dentist said there is no reason to remove mine. My bump was smaller, and as I get older it does seem to enlarge. My mother says that hers does interfere with swallowing foods. I don’t know whom to listen to or what to be prepared for in the future. Any advice?
>
> V.M.
>
> How’s your Latin? The bump you describe is most likely a torus palatinus. This is a benign (NOT cancerous) bony growth arising from the hard palate. They are more common in women than in men by about two to one, and they are indeed heritable. You ought to show this letter to your dentist, just to be absolutely certain that you and I are talking about the same thing.
> Tori (that’s the plural for torus) can grow slowly over the course of many years, but they usually do NOT cause problems. If a torus is very large, it may frequently become traumatized when you eat. The thin tissue covering the torus may become chronically ulcerated and painful. If this were to occur, you might want to consider having the torus removed.
>
> Tori can also interfere with the fitting of an upper denture. In some cases, surgical removal of the torus is necessary before a denture can be used comfortably.
> I’m curious regarding your mother’s observation that the lump interferes with swallowing. The first phase of swallowing is known as “bolus formation.” By chewing our food, passing it from one side of the mouth to the other, we convert hard, chewy, lumpy stuff into a nice, soft, moist ball – a “bolus” – that is then easily swallowed. I could understand how an exceptionally large torus might interfere with bolus formation, but it should not interfere with any other aspect of swallowing. Your mother’s doctor should question her carefully about her swallowing problem, because it may be a symptom of a medical condition unrelated to the torus.
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### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/10 "2006-07-27T18:53:45Z")
I have supernumary teeth, and your discription sounds very similar. A dental X-ray will be able to see them for what they are.
I had to have one removed when it broke through the skin, I have another that is just sitting there under the skin, it gets a little sore sometimes but isn’t a problem.
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### Author:  [@peri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peri)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/11 "2006-07-27T20:00:22Z")
Pictures of [mandibular](http://www.doctorspiller.com/images/OralAnatomy/TaurusMand.jpg) [tori](http://www.usc.edu/hsc/dental/opfs/BT/06bb.html). They are more common in men and may be associated with bruxism or other stresses on the mandible. If this is what they are, tori usually cause no problems unless the patient needs dentures. Many people have them for years before realizing their mouths are different than other’s, mainly because they are so slow growing. One day they look in the mirror and say, “OMG!”
Both the people in the above links need cleanings.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/12 "2006-07-27T20:07:50Z")
Hey, I’ve got one of those on the left side!
It doesn’t bother me, but now that all you people have brought it up I’m fussing with it…dam you.
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/13 "2006-07-27T20:34:44Z")
Hm, those pictures look a lot like what Mr. S has, only his is on one side and the bony part is showing (no gum covering it).
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/14 "2006-07-27T20:45:44Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#):
>
> Hm, those pictures look a lot like what Mr. S has, only his is on one side and the bony part is showing (no gum covering it).
My dad’s is on the side. He’s not crazy about the hammer and chisel solution, but he may have it done. It’s grown considerably in the last couple years. No dentures, though.
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/15 "2006-07-27T21:02:44Z")
Are you sure it’s not an **abcessed tooth**?
It’s when a tooth rots below the gumline and it starts to pus but since there’s nowhere for it to drain it forms a hard pocket on the gumline.
The dentis should be able to take care of it.
[see here](http://www.dental--health.com/faq_abcess.html)
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### Author:  [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/16 "2006-07-27T22:03:19Z")
I have a mandibular torus and it has not grown for the past 6 years that I’ve had it, though he said that a trip to an oral surgeon would probably be in order if I ever wanted it removed… The dentist should be able to confirm what it is for Mr. S. and then he can go from there.
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-that/366296/17 "2006-07-31T22:41:54Z")
They’re mandibular tori . . . ding ding ding! Even the dentist’s assistant recognized them. Then the dentist came in, the assistant said “I think he’s got some mandibular tori,” and the dentist took a look and said “Yup.” Nothing needs to be done unless they start causing pain, etc.
Then when the dentist brought him out to the lobby and said what it was, I got to say, “Hah! I was right!” and explain that I had been researching The Things on Teh Interweb. You guys made me look so smart. 😃
Now you can all sleep at night.