My name is Elizabeth and I just realized that I may have done something incredibly stupid. I am 40 years old and a year ago I was getting a cleaning when the dentist (a student graduating from dental school) hit the nerve in my jaw. For 3 months after that, the pain started getting worse and worse until I could no longer eat and then for 3 months lived on nothing or just liquids (God love the makers of SlimFast and Ensure). After the 6 months, the jaw became better and I started eating again and I broke a filling out of one of my molars. The tooth broke in half and I tried to get it pulled but developed an abscess. During my round of antibiotics, I noticed a little white bump next to the tooth on the gum, on my lower jaw. I popped it, it drained, but kept coming back. I figured it was part of the abscess. Because I had a lung infection for 6 months (from christmas until June), I was on antibiotics constantly but it didn't go away. It was not painful so I didn't think about it much. One day I noticed that in place of the little white bump, there was a small growth, maybe 1/16" long. It wasn't painful either and when I pushed it with my fingernail, it came off, bled, and I figured that was the end of it. Little did I know, but it grew back with a vengence and is now about 1/8-1/4" wide, not circular, not painful. I also found lumps under my arm which I went to my doctor today to get checked. she said it was probably my lymph nodes and scheduled me for a mammogram. Tonight I was researching cancer and came across your site and it finally hit me that the lump on my gum could possibly be something serious. Needless to say, the stupid part was that I failed to mention the lump to my MD because it didn't hurt and I didn't think of it. Tomorrow I will call for an appointment with a dentist. Please think good thoughts for me.

Elizabeth