This is gross, but I need to know what's going on in my mouth!?!
Question: A couple days ago I bit the inside of my mouth while eating. It didn't bleed, but it was all rough-feeling for a while afterward. Anyway, I'd pretty much forgotten about it until this morning, when I felt a bump right about where I bit myself the other day. I just now looked at it in a mirror, and it's this disgusting little bump. It's clear, and I'm worried that it's filled with some nasty fluid that will spill into my mouth if it bursts. (It looks like it's filled with clear fluid.) My questions are: has this ever happened to anyone before? Will it burst? If it does, will I notice when it happens? Or will it just go away by itself?
Answers: A couple days ago I bit the inside of my mouth while eating. It didn't bleed, but it was all rough-feeling for a while afterward. Anyway, I'd pretty much forgotten about it until this morning, when I felt a bump right about where I bit myself the other day. I just now looked at it in a mirror, and it's this disgusting little bump. It's clear, and I'm worried that it's filled with some nasty fluid that will spill into my mouth if it bursts. (It looks like it's filled with clear fluid.) My questions are: has this ever happened to anyone before? Will it burst? If it does, will I notice when it happens? Or will it just go away by itself?
I've had that happen to me countless times. It's nothing to worry about. It's not filled with anything, and if it is, it certainly won't burst. It should go away in a few days. You'll probably be tempted to feel it with your tongue--go ahead. By the time it goes away, you won't even know it.
It's most likely fine. Usually when you bite the inside of your mouth there will be some sort of abrasion left. It may pop but nothing to be too worried about.
If you're really worried I'd go to the doctor.
I bite the inside of my mouth quite a lot. I do get bumps. They always look bigger than they are.
Statistically if it does burst there's a 1 in 3 chance it'll happen while you're asleep and you won't even notice.
It probably will burst, with you tasting a slight distasteful taste. Just spit out, if convenient. A way too hurry it along, would be to gargle with warm salt water. 1/2 cup warm water, 1teaspoon salt. Just swish around that area, and spit out. Keep swishing, til all salt water is gone. Do this a few times a day. Don't be scared, it's not that bad.
I'm a dentist.
What you are describing sounds like something called a "mucous retention phenomenon", a.k.a. "mucocele".
Your mouth is kept moist by saliva, and this saliva is produced by various glands: major glands and minor glands. The major glands include the parotid, sublingual, and submandibular glands, which are located on your cheeks, under your tongue, and under your mandible, respectively. Minor salivary glands, however, can be found virtually everywhere in your mouth with the exception of few places (such as the top of your tongue and gingiva). Obviously, they are located on the inside of your cheek.
These minor salivary glands are quite small, and a few of them deposit saliva into a small salivary duct whose opening is in the mucosa.
It should come as no surprise that when you bite your mucosal tissues, you can physically damage these salivary ducts. And like any other damaged tissue, they may not heal normally. Quite often, these ducts become closed after an injury, but the salivary glands that produce the saliva still produce saliva. What happens, as a result of having a blocked duct coupled with continued saliva production, is the formation of a bubble of saliva.
If you were to pop this bubble with your fingernail, you'd see saliva produced from it. Generally, however, popping it does not resolve the problem. If this mucocele doesn't bother you (i.e. you don't bite it repeatedly and/or it doesn't feel uncomfortable in your mouth, AND it's not too large), it is of no clinical significance. Should you decide you want it treated, treatment is removal of the blocked duct as well as the the glands that release their saliva into said duct. It's generally a very easy procedure, requiring just one or two stitches.
When I perform these procedures, I always send the tissue to an oral/maxillofacial pathologist to confirm my diagnosis and rule out any malignancy--just to be safe.
THE ABOVE PERSON IS ABSOLUTELY SPOT ON