My Expanding Childhood Vocabulary

I added a new word to my vocabulary yesterday. Mucocele.

On Monday while Hannah was brushing her teeth, I noticed something swelling in her mouth. On closer inspection, it was indeed a swollen portion of her bottom inner lip and it was about 1/2 inch in diameter. Since I knew Hannah was going to see the pediatrician on Wednesday, I didn't panic too much and decided to wait it out.

But when the pediatrician looked at it, he mentioned a few things but then admitted he didn't really know what it was and we needed to see her dentist. Nice.

So Friday afternoon we went to see the pediatric dentist. I had to take Zach with me which was oh-so-interesting. He basically ran amok, playing with the toys out in the waiting area, jumping on the bean bags, frantically telling me he had to take care of business (of course while the bathroom was occupied), and trying to play with the toys in the dentist's reward treasure chest. Meanwhile, Hannah laid on the exam table focusing on The Little Mermaid playing on the TV on the ceiling.

Dr. Roberts greeted us and took one look in her mouth then became all business. He inspected it for several minutes and quizzed me before giving the verdict. It's a mucocele. A very large, very deep mucocele and the largest he has ever seen. Hannah has a tendency to chew on her lip and often bites it while eating. She bit her lip very hard last week. When that happens, the salivary glands usually heal up without any problems. Sometimes, though, they heal improperly and the gland duct is permanently severed. The gland does not know this and continues to produce saliva. Having no where to go, a pocket of saliva builds up under the surface. Usually the gland is close to the surface and can be surgically removed without any complications.

The complication is that this gland is twice the depth of a normal gland, and the swelling is now the size of a marble. After much discussion, he recommended we allow the swelling to continue since it is not causing Hannah any pain. It will burst on its own hopefully in the next week. We go back on May 4 for a follow up and he will determine if it is safe to surgically remove the gland or allow the body an opportunity to reabsorb it which may or may not happen.

So I continue to learn more and more about the human body and all the things that can go wrong. But I am thankful that I am not learning about things like broken bones, snake bites, or appendicitis. I guess this is just part of the joys of parenthood!