Painful infected taste bud

Hi, im19 years old and I have something strange going on in my mouth. Well, I would call it strange since it didn’t appear earlier. I have a big white bump on the left side of my tongue that hurts when I touch it. I tried squeezing it, it did hurt a lot but I was able to squeeze some pus out of it. Can you tell me what that is and is it anything serious? I heard from my friends that it could be a swollen gland and that it can be a sign of cancer, is that true?

Any kind of a bump anywhere on your body can be a sign of cancer although I doubt that this is the case with you. It certainly isn’t a swollen lymphatic gland because big lymphatic glands aren’t located on the tongue but in the neck area, on the tongue there are just few groups of lymphocytes grouped into the lingual tonsil. Since you were able to squeeze some pus out of the bump I think that it is some kind of a infection process going on the surface of your tongue. It is possible that it is an infected taste bud. Taste buds are little growths on your tongue that have small trenches around them and in those trenches the taste sensation cells are placed. In order for the food to get in contact with the sensation cells it must get through the trenches and sometimes it gets suck there. Normally there are small mucous glands that produce mucus that washes off the residues of food from the trenches, if those glands are not functioning infection may occur. I think that you shouldn’t touch that bump anymore not to cause any more damage, you should go to your doctor as soon as possible so you can get proper treatment for your condition.

i have big bumps on the back of my tongue they dont hurt i need to know what they are

Guest wrote:

i have big bumps on the back of my tongue they dont hurt i need to know what they are

It could be all sorts of things! What are the bumps like? Are they red, with white coating, big, small, …..have you eaten anything unusual, had unprotected oral/vaginal sex, …

Once I have developed strange bumps on the back, they looked disgusting. I freaked and went to a dentist. He told me these bumps were some sort of papillae, and that they are normal, already on the tongue but got enlarged.
Then I was searching on the net about the different bumps, and I saw so many conditions. I didn’t even know how many things there could be in mouth.

However, your bumps can be a reaction to food, or an allergy but I reckon you should have it seen by a dentist.

pare wrote:

Hi, im19 years old and I have something strange going on in my <a class="wiki" href="http://www.steadyhealth.com/encyclopedia/Mouth">mouth</a>. Well, I would call it strange since it didn’t appear earlier. I have a big white bump on the left side of my <a class="wiki" href="http://www.steadyhealth.com/encyclopedia/Tongue">tongue</a> that hurts when I touch it. I tried squeezing it, it did hurt a lot but I was able to squeeze some pus out of it. Can you tell me what that is and is it anything serious? I heard from my friends that it could be a swollen gland and that it can be a sign of cancer, is that true?

Ok i dont know about the puss cuz I have never actualy poped one.
But it might be an alsur (not sure of spelling) its a white bump that you get on your toung from 1) not brushing your teeth 2)eating to much salt 3) or say you have food decaying in your teeth and your toung is up aginst that tooth it can cause a small infection by trying to decay your toung in that small area. In any case its allways a good idea to go to the doctors.

everyone has those bumps on the back of there tongue! they are just taste buds and you shouldnt be concerned,,,

I have been diagnosed with an infected taste bud on my tongue. My Dr. told me to slosh salt water every couple of hours and she gave me an antibiotic, Avelox 400mg once a day for ten days. I am half way through the medication and still see no change. It has bled off and on for over a week. Four of those days were prior to seeing my Dr. Since I saw her it has bled two days. But I have never had any puss come out of it, only blood. My Dr. tells me the next step is to see an Ear, Nose, Throat Dr. or an oral surgeon. I have never heard of an infected taste bud before. How common is this? I am also a diabetic, taking pills and one insulin injection daily. Is there another treatment other than surgery for my tongue?

I am also 19 years old and I get irritated spots on the side of my tongue too. It's not really a "white bump", sometimes its just irritated, red and raised. it may look white because of the skin, but its more of a clear white like dead skin. sometimes i get these pains on my taste buds also. they kind of swell and turn that white color or blood red. they sometimes look like they turn white and have a sac of blood inside, like an egg with its yolk. they hurt and I've been getting them for a while. i started to think it was syphilis but i have been getting this for so long and no other signs for the disease have shown. I'm beginning to get concerned if its a different std. when i get these raised areas, i will either leave them alone or if they are really bothering me i will clipped them off (which i know i probably shouldn't do). no pus comes out, just blood. what does it mean???