Age 46, Male

More than seven months ago I had two or three painful canker sores -- seemingly caused by cheap coffee. I get them sometimes, on my tongue or in my mouth, and of course they always disappear. The one that didn't disappear is on my right retromolar pad, at the exact center of where the mandibles always mash together. (And it seems to get grazed by those two very back teeth.) The sore was throbbing and painful for a good week or so, and I figured that was because of its location, always being rubbed on when chewing or just keeping my mouth shut. I also have bruxism/TMJ issues on that side and have for many years.

After about a week the ulcer stopped hurting and did shrink...but even after seven months hasn't vanished, though I know there was healing. The part where the ulcer stops hurting and changes for the better happened on schedule, but then that stopped. For several months it's just been a shriveled tiny white flapping-bump version of how it began. Its crater seems mostly "filled." I can move it around, and it will hurt a little if I press on it -- but otherwise it's not noticeable. If I left it alone and never touched it, it may shrink further but I wonder if it's mostly just scarring or a traumatic ulcer that can't ever vanish because of the frictional area where it is. It's always being impacted when I eat or have my mouth closed, after all. And I didn't measure the thing when it was new and open and throbbing, but I'd say it's now about the size of a very tiny Nerds candy, at the most. Certainly smaller, just still there.

I actually had three dentist visits for something else, several weeks after it first began to heal, and the visits included X-rays. I didn't mention it because I still just figured back then that it was slow to vanish. She must have seen it but didn't mention it either. But that was five months ago and I didn't think any of it would still be there. I have no other symptoms or indications of a problem. But when something like this sticks around and you Google it, you basically get a cancer diagnosis. Of course I can see my dentist again and ask, but before getting in I wondered if the folks here had any thoughts.