Since 1995 - Non Profit Healthcare Advice

Blood blister on cheek inside mouth

01/07/2009

Question:

I have a raised blister that appears to be a blood blister on the inside of my right cheek. There is also a small red blood fleck above it that is not raised and what feels to be a straight thin line of some sort that would best be described as a healing paper cut if it were on the skin. I have seen this blister before, I cannot remember how long ago, but I would say it has been a while, on the same exact spot. It is round and raised but does not hurt and I only noticed it again because I was running my tongue along my cheek while reading.

Should I be concerned? Thank you in advance.

Answer:

First of all, what does your physician or dentist think? I can only guess what is occurring and without knowing more about your medical history, current medications, and dental status (dentures, partial dentures, etc.) can only make an educated guess. As an interesting aside, this problem has been frequenting the site and may indicate a factial response to stress (cheek chewing, or sucking the buccal mucosa against the incisal edges of the molar teeth in response to stress).

  • Are you on blood thinners (anticoagulants like coumadin)?
  • Do you have any bleeding disorders or low blood counts?
  • How large is “large” for the size of the blister?

Based on your description of where they occur in the mouth, cheek sucking or biting would be somewhat difficult to get this problem.

  • Are you sure they are blisters and not just vessels that are close to the mucosa (varicosities)?
  • Is the color bright red or more brownish blue?

These are all questions that need to be addressed before one can make an educated diagnosis (among other items!). The most likely answer is that this is factial injury/trauma from something you do subconsciously during sleep.

For more information:

Go to the Dental and Oral Health (Adults) health topic.