My mother and I both have a hard bump on the roof of the mouth. The bump feels like a bone. My mother's dentist told her it will keep growing and make it uncomfortable for her to eat. The dentist wanted her to get it removed. However, my dentist said there is no reason to remove mine. My bump was smaller, and as I get older it does seem to enlarge. My mother says that hers does interfere with swallowing foods. I don't know whom to listen to or what to be prepared for in the future. Any advice?

V.M.

How's your Latin? The bump you describe is most likely a torus palatinus. This is a benign (NOT cancerous) bony growth arising from the hard palate. They are more common in women than in men by about two to one, and they are indeed heritable. You ought to show this letter to your dentist, just to be absolutely certain that you and I are talking about the same thing.

Tori (that's the plural for torus) can grow slowly over the course of many years, but they usually do NOT cause problems. If a torus is very large, it may frequently become traumatized when you eat. The thin tissue covering the torus may become chronically ulcerated and painful. If this were to occur, you might want to consider having the torus removed.

Tori can also interfere with the fitting of an upper denture. In some cases, surgical removal of the torus is necessary before a denture can be used comfortably.

I'm curious regarding your mother's observation that the lump interferes with swallowing. The first phase of swallowing is known as "bolus formation." By chewing our food, passing it from one side of the mouth to the other, we convert hard, chewy, lumpy stuff into a nice, soft, moist ball -- a "bolus" -- that is then easily swallowed. I could understand how an exceptionally large torus might interfere with bolus formation, but it should not interfere with any other aspect of swallowing. Your mother's doctor should question her carefully about her swallowing problem, because it may be a symptom of a medical condition unrelated to the torus.