Growth - palate (warning gross)

May flowers

Today, my FIL was napping reclined and was snoring with his mouth open. I noticed a large growth, roughly 1 1/2” in diameter and 1/2” thick in the roof of his mouth (hard palate). I would never have noticed this brushing his teeth and such. It must be pretty new because he had a dental appointment in 2020 and she did not mention seeing it. The anesthesiologist for his surgery in January did not mention it either.

It does not look inflamed and is not painful, it just looks like a piece of lumpy tissue.

We have noticed a lot of apnea-like gagging at night lately and now we are wondering if this is part of it. It is better if he sleeps on his side.

The hospice nurse usually comes by on Tuesdays so I hope to show her.

 I have to wonder where we go from here if it obstructs his swallowing. I get not wanting to eat, and letting that take its course, but right now, he seems to still want to eat a good bit on most days.

I’m getting ahead of myself but I was a little shocked.

abc123

I'm almost certain I would be concerned too! It's because you love him so much and are a great caregiver/human being. Please do discuss it with the nurse and keep us posted. I am hoping it's nothing serious and he will be able to continue to enjoy eating.

harshedbuzz

Mayflowers-

If you can get a picture of it, send it to his dentist/PCP and see what they think.

HB

Marta

This is most likely an arcus palatinus, a normal variation of the hard palate. This will not progress, has always been there. You just never had a view before.

The reason professionals have not mentioned it is that is a normal variant in humans. 

M1

I agree with Marta MF, if you google torus of the hard palate, you'll find lots of pictures online.  10-20% of people can have it, it should be more or less midline and more or less symmetric.  That said, my partner's lymphoma first showed up as a spongy growth on her hard palate.  But if that were the case, I doubt if you're going to do anything about it now.