Patients suffer with giant lumps on faces after wisdom tooth problem

Everything started with a toothache.

For Porferio, it started back in 2007 when his wisdom tooth started to hurt. Upon having a checkup, it was discovered that he had an impacted wisdom tooth, which he got removed when he went home to Samar.

But what was supposed to be a solution led to something much worse.

A lump suddenly formed on the left side of his jaw and his face started to swell. In a medical mission, he underwent a suction procedure just to get rid of the bump on his face but it couldn’t be fully removed anymore.

Porferio was diagnosed with Ameloblastoma or a tumor that grew near his wisdom tooth.

His face has gotten really swollen up, and the lump on the left side of his jaw has already grown. His mouth bleeds and his gums already have wounds, where pus comes out.

He can't eat properly anymore, and has limited his diet to oatmeal and soup — food he can simply swallow. To get his fill, Porferio needs to tilt his head, to guide the food away from his wounds.

Every day, he would try to clean his wounds on his tooth and gums, and would even squeeze the blood and pus out.

He would insert a gauze pad — using a stick made from dalandan tree/plant —  into the wound to stop bleeding.

He also has a difficult time whenever he would sleep. He can sleep only one side with his mouth open because of the enlarged lump.

Every night the lump on his face would even bleed and would stain his pillows and sheets.

It got so bad that he would collect long strands of hair from the parlor he used to work at just to make a hair extension to cover the lump on his face.
Now, even his eyes are getting affected and his back is starting to hurt.

He needs to undergo an operation that costs up to P500,000. His family has already sold their house in Samar just to sustain his needs.

The wisdom tooth or the third molar usually grows between the ages of 17 to 21 years old.

Supposedly, the wisdom tooth should grow vertically but some manage to grow in different directions to the point that it can’t even get out of the gum tissues already. This becomes the impacted wisdom tooth and because of the lack of space in the mouth already, other teeth start to suffer due to crowding and decay.

Meanwhile, Aileen from Alimodian, Iloilo, started to suffer after she tried poking her wisdom tooth with a toothpick. Soon afterwards, her face started to swell.

She started to feel insecure about her looks and worse, her husband even left her for another woman.

With the help of social media, she was able to get donations up to 500,000 pesos for her surgery.

The lump on her face was finally removed and  they had to insert metal m on her face to fix her jaw. The doctors also had to remove all her lower teeth for the operation.

Aileen said that her life is better now.

It started out the same way too for Gerome.

His impacted wisdom tooth started to hurt and when he went to get it checked, his impacted wisdom tooth was hitting the rest so the others started to decay already.

The price for the removal of impacted tooth sometimes costs around P15,000 but for Gerome, he was able to get it removed for only P400 with the help of his churchmate.

However, his face started to get swollen and a lump started to appear. The wound in his mouth got too infected that he can't properly talk or even sing anymore, something he felt so passionate about.

To help his case, he underwent surgery to remove the lump on his face. So that his face wouldn't be deformed, they had to get a bone from his own thigh to put in his jaw.

Aside from this, metal was also added. Even though the surgery cost almost P200,000, the results were beneficial as Gerome can finally work now and save up for the house they had to sell for his operation.

For Porferio, however, it was diagnosed that he needed to undergo Left Hemimandibulectomy, mandibular reconstruction with fibular free flap.

According to doctors, the wisdom tooth doesn't usually cause swollen faces and lumps.

However, in the case of Porferio and Aileen, they were diagnosed with ameloblastoma. It is a rare kind of tumor that starts in the jaw, often near the wisdom tooth or molars. 

Doctors clarified that there is no correlation on the growth of lump on the face with wisdom teeth.

These patients, through their own procedures, have worked their way to finally regain the smiles they've lost along the way. — Kaela Malig/LA, GMA News