What causes lump under chin? Get insights on the reason for swollen lump, hard big bump under the chin or near the jaw line, sometimes tender or small and how to treat.
What is a chin lump?
This is a protuberance or localized area of swelling that can occur anywhere on the area around the chin. There are several terms that are used to describe the various types of chin lumps, which include; bump, nodule, pustule, tumor, contusion, and cyst. There are several conditions that may result to lumps under chin. They include infections, inflammation, tumors, and even lymph nodes. Depending on what caused it, a lump may be single or multiple, tender or hard, with pain or without pain.
Due to local infection, chin lumps may appear as boils and abscess. These infections may result to swelling of lymph nodes appearing like lumps, on the lower line of the jawbone in the neck.
Lymph nodes caused by infection, inflammation or trauma are usually temporary and disappear as the underlying condition goes away. If the lump persist and continue to increase instead of reducing is a sign of serious infection underway.
Symptoms of a lump under chin
The symptoms of a chin lump may depend on the underlying infection, disease, disorder which led to the rise of the lump. The following are some of the localized symptoms of chin bumps:
- Pus or discharge,
- Redness, warmth with swelling,
- Tenderness or pain
More bodily related symptoms may include:
- Cough
- Fever and chills
- Headache
- Joint stiffness and pain
- Runny nose
- Sore throat
- Sweating
- Weight loss
Causes of chin lump
Chin lumps may be caused by trauma, infection, inflammation, benign cysts and even cancer.
Traumatic causes may include:
- Broken bones
- Fractured tooth or jaw
- Head injury
- Collection of blood in the body tissues [hematoma]
- Insect sting or bite injuries
Infectious causes may include:
Due to infection, lumps may be formed as localized abscess or as an enlargement of lymph nodes. The causes are;
- Abscess
- Boils
- Herpes simplex virus – 1 infection
- Mononucleosis
- Mumps [viral infection on salivary glands in the neck]
- Papillomavirus infection [warts]
- Upper respiratory virus infection
- Common cold
Tumors/ cystic lump under chin:
- Fibroma [a benign tumor composed of fibrous or connective tissue]
- Limpoma [a benign fatty growth]
- Lymphoma [cancer of the lymphatic system]
- Thyroid cancer
- Tumors or cysts of the jawbone
- Nonmelanoma skin cancers
- Sarcoma
- Nevi [moles of the skin]
- Melanoma [cancer formed in the melanocytes]
Serious causes of lump under chin can be a symptom of life threatening condition such as cancer that should be screened and treated with an immediate effect.
Diagnosing the cause of chin lump
There are several questions you have to answer to your doctor to evaluate which of the case could be the cause of the lump. They may include:
- How long you have had the lump,
- If you may be experiencing other symptoms,
- If the lump is increasing or not,
- If the lump is painful or not.
Lump under Chin near Throat
When you have a certain infection, inflammation or a trauma you may develop a swollen lymph node at the local area where the condition is. A serious infection may result in to large swollen glands with firm, hard or tender feeling.
Things that result to this serious infections include bacterial or viral infection, skin injury, cold, insect bites or sore throat. They are some of the reasons why you are having a swollen lymph node.
The work of the lymph nodes is to help in the fight of germs, infections and any foreign substances in the body. When they are infected, they swell up forming a lump under the chin that may be movable, hard or tender depending on the type of infection at hand.
Causes of those hard movable lumps
When lymph nodes react to an infection at hand they swell up forming lumps under the jaw line. The size of the swelling is always determined by the depth of infection. It is very important to know the cause of the lump as it may help the doctor in giving of the right prescription. Some causes may include:
Swollen lymph node
Lymph nodes play a major role in the fighting of infection because they store some of the immune cells. When an infection has been detected, they swell up with much pain depending on the level of infection hence resulting to a lump under chin.
Tooth swelling
This is a bacterial infection caused by a broken tooth or when it decay. As this occur pus is collected in the center of an infected tooth and abscess is formed. This causes the gum around the infected tooth to swell more so, resulting to swollen lymph node which appear as lumps under the jawline. This can affect the upper jaw and the neck as well.
Strep throat
Strep throat is a bacterial infection affecting the throat causing sore and pain. The streptococcus bacterium affects the glands causing them to swell up. The infection may result to bumps under jaw.
Cysts
Sebaceous cysts are also common cause of lumps under chin. They a patient to develop soft or hard lumps under the jaw either on left or right depending on the local area of infection. When the cysts has caused all these, don’t hesitate go and see a doctor to diagnose the type of cyst and prescribe the right medication thereafter.
Boil
Boils are caused by a bacteria infecting the oil gland that is clogged with excess oil and dead skin cells. When this boil occur on the area around the jawline or under the jaw, it occur as large tender pimple characterized collection of white yellow fluid filled in the middle. Due to an infection you may develop a lump under your jaw as the outer part of the jaw is under infection.
Salivary glands infection and gland stone
There are numerous salivary glands in the areas around the mouth. When the salivary glands on the submandibular glands are infected, they result to pain and swelling which occur in the jawline as lump.
Salivary gland stone occur when the saliva chemicals form a crystal that block the saliva flow from a salivary gland near the jaw. All these infection result to inflammation around the jawline with a lot of pain.
Viral infections
Some of the viral infections that may result to swollen lymph nodes are Aids, measles, rubella, chicken pox, syphilis or mumps. They may attack the lymph nodes causing them to form lumps under chin that is so painful.
Lipomas
A lipoma is a non-cancerous fatty growth that has no harm and form a dome- shaped lump. The lump is usually visible under the skin and can be movable lump below the jawline.
Medical side effects
Some medicines when taken are associated with side effects like swelling of lymph nodes. Some of these medications include typhoid immunization and seizure medicines like phenytoin may result to lumps.
Tender Lump under Chin
In many cases lump under the jaw is not a cause of concern. The glands on either side of the neck under the jaw may have swollen up due to a cold or sore throat resulting to a tender bump.
There are more infections that may cause the glands to enlarge and become very firm and tender. These kind of infection may include bacterial or viral ones.
Glands can as well enlarge and become tender after an injury, a cut or bite, or after a tumor infection occur in the mouth, head or neck.
Other causes
Swelling may also be caused by:
- A side effect caused by medicine such as typhoid immunizer and phenytoin.
- A lump under chin can be caused by an infected hair follicle for people who shave bears.
- Infection from some STIs like herpes simplex virus-1 may result to the swelling of the lymph nodes.
Hard Lump under Chin
You may not have any tooth problem or any mouth sickness but find yourself having a hard bump under your jaw. The lump may go away on its own without treatment or with treatment. When you get this kind of lump it is very important you seek medical advice so that you are sure what may have caused.
The bump can be small or big, fixed or movable, painful or painless.
Causes of lump under jaw line
There are many causes that may result to this kind of bumps but let us have a look at the few:
- When you have an inflamed lump under chin you may have a salivary glands problem. When infected with chemical reactions that may lead to a poor saliva secretion, it may swell up to a point it can be felt on the skin surface under the jaw. This can cause the glands to become painful to touch.
- When you have an infection, inflammation, or trauma, you may develop swollen lymph nodes. They are part of the immune system and when you area facing any condition on your body, they enlarge and form lump under chin.
- If you have a hard small sized lump on your jawline, it may be a cystic acne. Cysts are closed sac-like structures which are filled with fluid, hard substance and some air much like a blister. Cysts are formed within tissue and can affect any part of the body including the jawline. They are normally painless, slow in growth, smooth to touch and movable.
- After the successful tooth extraction, some people may develop lump under chin. This could related to the removal process or the normal body system fighting the infection. The lump may disappear after a given period of time.
- In severe cases the lump on your jaw may be caused by cancer. It it normally irregular, painless and hard to touch. When it is cancerous, it tend to grow slowly, wont heal and it is fixed firmly in the skin.
- Having an abscessed tooth is another cause of lump on jawline. A tooth related abscess, normally develops inside the tooth and it occurs when the toot‘s nerve is dead or dying. This kind of abscess normally show up at the tip of the tooth’s root.
Swollen Lump under Chin
As we cannot look at every cause that may result to formation lumps under jaw, let us just look at the main causes. You have a lump underneath your jaws? Here are some of the cause; swollen lymph nodes, reactive salivary glands and dental complications.
Lymph nodes: below our jaw are two major lymph nodes located there. There is a submandibular lymph nodes, found between the mandibles. The lymph nodes are part of the immune system whereby they respond to any condition affecting our body system. They swell up when you have an infection at the localized infection when they react to the ongoing process.
The main causes of swollen lymph nodes are bacterial infection, inflammation and trauma that may occur on the jawline. It is very important to see a doctor who may examine the condition by touching to feel the severity of the infection and prescribe worth treatment.
Reactive salivary glands: when there is chemical reactions in your salivary glands that may temper with the normal saliva secretion, you may develop stones in the submandibular salivary gland which cause a lump under chin.
Dental complication: when you have a bad tooth that has been infected with bacteria, it may form pus in the areas of the jaws causing it to swell up. Broken tooth may allow entrance of a severe bacteria which cause a lot of troubles if it is not treated on time. It may lead to the removal of the affected tooth.
Lump Under Chin no Pain
In other cases you may have a lump under your jawline that is not harmful and with no pain. Lymph nodes as well can be painless if the infection was not that much severe. It can also be painful only if touched in some people. A part from that you can a lump under chin that is not painful and not a swollen lymph node. What is it then? This is a common issue faced by many people at their childhood whereby they develop a firm movable lump that may not disappear until they are grown with it.
The movement of the lump means it is not attached to any tissues hence it is harmless. It can be large gland or fatty tissue which still is not carrying any problem. The major cause of such lumps is injuries like fractured jaw, internal trauma which result to localized swelling.
Movable lumps can also be:
- Limpoma
- A cystic lesion,
- Acne and many more.
Lump under Jaw Line
In most cases you don’t have to be anxious about that swollen lump or glands under the skin. It could have been caused by a sore throat or cold that may cause lymph nodes under your jaw, on the either sides’ right above the neck.
You can be as well under a serious infection when you have swollen glands under your chin, which are tender and firm. When you have a bacterial infection, an inflammation, tumors of the neck, mouth or head can cause that tender swelling under your jaws.
The lump under chin can be painful or without pain, firm or soft, multiple or single depending on its cause. They can as well increase depending on the level of infection.
Causes of that lump in your jaw are
If the lymph node is swollen then it is the cause of that lump that appear under your jaws. The swelling can be due to a bacterial infection, bad tooth, inflammation, trauma or general conditions that cause sickness on your head and neck area.
The swelling under your jaw can be due to submandibular salivary glands. When infected with stones, it may cause pain and small lump under chin. The doctor will be the best person to identify the infection and prescribed the best treatment.
If the lump can move around it is a common problem that is faced by some people during their childhood and can remain up to their adulthood as well. This movable lump means it is not attached to any other tissue hence should not give you worry as it is harmless. Such movable lumps are caused by injuries such as fractured jaw and internal trauma which form a localized swelling.
A lump of any given size under chin on sometimes be linked to tumor or cancer. However in most cases such a lump is nothing to worry about unless it cause jaw pain which increase with the passage of time and become a cute when having a meal.
For the lump to be cancerous it may have the following symptoms; swelling of the jaws, moving teeth, localized facial swelling, tingling or numbness in the jaw and swollen lymph nodes.
Other causes may include: dental abscess, cervical adenitis, osteomyelitis, sinusitis, lock jaw, broken jaw, and par otitis.
How to Get Rid of Lump under Chin
When a lump appear right below your jawbone it can means several things. It could have appeared due to swelling of the lymph nodes or development of tumor. It is very important when you realize a lump under chin to have it checked as soon as possible and the doctor to advise you on what steps to take in recovery process.
The main cause of a lump on the jawline is the swelling of the lymph nodes. This can happen to either sides of the jawline or one side. When there is an infection, inflammation or a trauma, your lymph nodes may swell as they help in the fight of the infection. The level of pain may depend on the kind of infection at hand.
You may develop some other symptoms associated with swollen lymph nodes like fever, headaches, increased production of sweat, toothaches, and even general body weakness if the infection is severe.
The doctor can try to fill the swelling in determination of the depth of infection. Also a CT scan can be taken to ensure you are not affected by a serious condition. To treat swollen lymph nodes a doctor will offer appropriate medication to the cause of the swelling, which include anti-bacterial medicines. The doctor will also give precautions that you should follow to the later.
Home treatment of lump under chin
Here you should not just rely on the home remedies to get rid of these lumps. They should be used to provide an enabling environment to recover quickly.
Eat natural foods that contain natural healing properties like anti-bacterial content. This may include ginger and lemon which are known to fight bacterial infection within the mouth region. Another food with this feature is pineapple that contains a content called bromelain which helps in the killing of micro-organisms in the body.
Make appropriate lifestyle changes by avoiding smoking while you are under the healing process. Smoking has numerous effects in your body so quitting it will be of much help to your health. Avoid all harmful activities that may cause bodily problems in general.
As lymph nodes may take couple of days to heal, you have to see a doctor more often to have your progress examined.
Keeping your mouth clean always can also help as you prevent more bacterial infection to the condition.