Hello all,I am a bit worried.A few weeks ago I bit the inside of my cheek when eating I haven’t done that for years and within a few seconds I had bitten the other side .When I looked to see what damage I had done I noticed a line of white skin on both cheeks which had slightly thickened in places and a small lacy looking ulcer type thing inside my top lip.It doesn’t hurt apart from where I bit slightly.I went to my dentist and she doesn’t know what it is so has referred me to a specialist who sent me an appointment the next day for the end of the month .They May do a biopsy to make sure it’s not you know what.Has anybody else come across this as a side effect of Imatinib maybe and might know what it is .Thank you , Denise.
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Mouth problems on Imatinib
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Hi Denise,
I spoke to my sister, who's a dental surgeon, and she said that lines along the inside of the cheek that go from back to front roughly where the two sets of teeth meet are very common in people who grind their teeth at night.
However if they are very pronounced then this might not be it, and of course the dentist that looked after you would have known this too.
David.
Hi David ,thank you so much for your reply.It is as your sister says between my upper and lower teeth .My dentist has never treated anyone with CML before so I am really hoping she is being over cautious.She won’t start any treatment on me not even scale and polish until she has been in touch with my haematologist to find out all my bloods.Regards ,Denise.
Family dentists, as opposed to hospital dental surgeons, of course don't see as much of the medical spectrum just by virtue of who presents. They're being cautious, which is the right thing.
The only thing your dentist really needs to know is if your plates are low as you might bleed every so slightly more under dental examination. Even then it'll be very minor. My dentist was very careful when I told him about CML but he did really well and looked into things and in all honesty doesn't treat me any differently to any other patient. You are almost certainly your dentists first known CML patient so they are probably at the same stage as mine was.
The chances are probably much more mundane and you might be grinding your teeth at night, which is something completely non-CML that you might try to address.
David.