Retained foreign bodies in the oral cavity are uncommon owing to its structural and functional features. The incidence quoted in the literature varies between 0.3% and 2.8%. Since the tongue is highly sensitive to pain and given the relative ease with which a foreign body can be removed by the patient, embedded foreign bodies are rarely seen. A 49-year-old woman presented with a six mouth history of a tender mass in the middle third of her tongue which had caused ongoing, mild pain during deglutition. CT scans showed a highly attenuated lesion in the tongue and the patient a greed to undergo excision of the mass. Surprisingly, two fish bones were found embedded within. After three mouths of routine follow-up, no recurrence of the mass was seen and the patient was pain free. The presented case serves to highlight the need to remember the possibility of a retained foreign body when evaluating patients that present with a tender mass in the oral cavity.