Numbness After Wisdom Tooth Extraction? (Page 1)

I had a cist develop next to my lower left wisdom tooth. I was 32 when they pulled that wisdom tooth. They told that the cist was pressing against my nerve and one of the possibilities was that extracting the cist and tooth could leave the lower part of my jaw numb.

Sure enough, after surgery my lower left jaw was numb. They told me that I might get feeling back after a few days or that I may not.

Well I never did get feeling back in my jaw. It has been over three years since my surgery and though I don't have complete feeling in my Jaw. I did get a lot of feeling back. I don't really notice it anymore. As a matter of fact I forgot about it until I saw your post.

It sounds like the same thing happened to you. I't might feel extremely numb right now, but you will get some feeling back. It may just take some time.

I'm not sure if your doctor informed you of the risks before the surgery. My oral surgeon informed me of the risks before the surgery. It sound though that your surgeon sounds a little incompetent.

As far as the pain you mentioned. I can't really say anything about that, because the doctor put me under when they performed the surgery.

Hang in there. It should get better.



Eric

I just had my four wisdom teeth removed. It has been 6 days since the surgery and I still can't feel my lower left lip, chin and gum. I went to see my oral surgeon yesterday, he did a couple of tests and concluded that during the surgery, he may have touched my nerve. This sometimes can sometime happen when the teeth it too close to the nerve. He said that it couple take a couple of weeks before I get the feeling back, or it can never come back again. At my age, 18, the nerve should be able to repair itself, but there is a small change it could not.

from my knowledge, usually if u feel numbness after removal of teeth, it might be that there is some injury to your nerve. if there only compression of the nerve, it will takes about 2 weeks to heal. if it was partial injury to the nerve, usually the area of numbness become smaller n heal in 6 month.but if total injury, it will cause permanent numbness

My husband had wisdom tooth and another tooth removed about 2 months ago. Called the dentist re the continued numbness and got the reply "Maybe I nicked a nerve" and to check if no improvement. Another couple weeks lapse, and when he called the dentist for appt the assistant was rather defensive and said 'what are we supposed to do about it?" so he made an appointment. There is no sign of change, so is he supposed to have additional surgery now - or what is the future of this 'mistake' and who pays for it? We don't know who to ask, what to expect - and appreciate any input.

I have permenant nerve damage from when I had my wisdom teeth out 10 years ago. Having the doctor "recheck" it proved to be a waste of time. I went in once a month for about 3-4 months and all he would do is poke around and ask what i felt. The last time I went he said he could try to do a nerve graft. There was no way I was risking it getting damaged more so I opted to wait it out.

At first, it was dead numb. Then it got extremely sensitive even to touch. They refer to this as "parathesia" Now I have partial feeling. I am told that part of the nerve regenerated but the rest did not. Fortunately I do not have drooping and barely notice it at all anymore.

The sharp shooting pain you felt was the needle touching or coming very close to the nerve. Nerves had electrical charges and metal and electric don't mix well. The shot he gave you is basically a blind shot - they aim for where the nerve typically is in text books and hope to get close enough that the anes will numb it. Typically you get a jolt and go numb very fast and it lasts a long time.

There is no reason to seek a dentist at this point. They can't do much unless you want to find someone who is willing to attempt to graft it but I don't think they would do that this soon after. Most of the time it regenerates but takes a very long time. It also doesn't mean that you had a terrible dentist. He had a good aim. Him stepping back and looking at you like "what is wrong with her" was probably because, believe it or not, not that many people freak out or cry in the chair and what you experienced doesn't happen that often.

To tryingourbest, Most dentists have you sign a consent form before performing an extraction. Or they can verbally tell you about the odds of this happening, or lie and say they did. Anytime you have a surgery where they cut you, they cut the nerves completely in half or in the case of extractions have a very good chance of at least nicking the nerve. I had a c-section and now my stomach is numb there, no one told me it would happen but I can't very well sue them, Basically, you have no case as far as suing them goes. I work in the dental field and have for 14 years, including some time in a oral surgery office. You both really need to find dentists who have a genuine concern about your dental health - sounds like both these offices don't really cares what happens after you walk out the door and any problems that arise are nothing but an inconvenience for them, rather than for you - not good. And I would seriously reconsider another surgery esp this soon after and by the same doctor. get a second opinion.

I am a month into my same nightmare. A wisdom tooth extraction on my 2 bottom teeth. The left alveolar nerve was severed while he was extracting the tooth. There is pain that I can't describe in the numb areas of lip, chin and teeth. I think the nerves that aren't damaged are trying to commnunicate. It is a HORRIBLE unsettling feeling. I often spill food and drink and my lip and chin feel exhausted and like rubber. They are sensitive and it is irritating and has hurt my self esteem and mental well being even though no one can tell unless I have food on my face that I cant wipe off because I dont feel it. Many people don't understand. I checked into a micro surgery that can have a 60% chance of improvement in the nerve but it is not guarenteed and can cause further damage. Also the insurance only covers 70% of it after I pay my $1000 deductible and the surgeon is 8 hours away and is the only reputable doctor who performs it so I need to pay for travel and hotel and will miss work so I probably cant afford to do it. It is so brutally unsettling and heartbreaking that these dentists and oral surgeons dont have to pay for it.
I never knew the risk, was not told this could happen and thought it was a routine procedure. What I wouldn' have to go back and not have my wisdom teeth (that werent causing me any problems) removed.

I also have had nerve trouble since my wisdom tooth extraction in Aug, 2009. The numbness is irritating for sure, but the pain is more than EXCRUCIATING. It feels like it is deep in the ear, on the side and bottom of the tongue and under my chin...only on one side. Also the nerve irritation feels like it extends down my neck like on the surface of my throat. I don't exactly want to return to the Dr. who performed the surgery since according to him everything went well. Is there hope? Even if I don't ever get all the feeling back, is there something I can do for the pain? I'm dying here. I'm a 21 student and I've had to put my life on hold because I seriously can't do anything at all!

I have just had 2 wisdom teeth out yesterday at the hospital but they put me to sleep for mine because they were to in-bedded in my gums to pull out while i was awake and also i dont take to local anaesthetic....When i woke up from my operation which took an hour i had a very sore throat like they said and i couldnt feel my lip or tongue in places now they said this was normal. today my lips are back and my tongue is tingly but i can feel it....Jenny

I had my wisdom teeth pulled about seven years ago at 37. the numbness is still present on half of my lip and chin. ie. no change.

I'm not sure this will help anyone with a similar problem since it didn't help me but the surgeon suggested I stroke the numb areas with a qtip (or something similar). in front of the mirror, slide the qtip in one direction from where feeling is present across the numb area.

this is to help the nerves "recommunicate." again it didn't help me but maybe it will work on somebody else...I hope.

personally I went thru the same issues as some of you... drool and speech issues. in fact I still am sensitive about who can tell...total paranoia especially because I make client presentations all the time.. but i compensated for my inability to pronounce letters by speakng a little differently. also I use a lot of chapstick. I find moisture helps me pronounce certain letters better.

really it makes me mad that there are all kinds of forums with ppl crying out for help and information. yet "experts" simply say that numbness doesn't remain. there are varying levels of effectedness but the struggle is the same for us all.

I had a molar pulled that was infected. It had been like this for about 6 months and I didn't have dental insurance so I kept putting it off. It did not bother me so I thought I would wait. Well about a month before I got it pulled a dimple like dent formed right where the tooth was along with a swelled lump on my gum. So it has been 2 weeks since I got the tooth pulled but the dimple like dent is still there. The dentist told me that it should go away, I was wondering if anyone had anything like my situation

I had a wisdom tooth removed yesterday, after the procedure I feel numbness on my right jaw and right lips, my dentist told me wait a few days and take Vitamin B12 neurobin, its suppose to help speed up any nerve damage to the alveolar nerve.....Im waiting if this will help my condition...

I had my bottom wisdom teeth extracted 3 years ago. To this day the right side of my tongue and gum line are numb and tingly. It only bothers me when I think about it to much, take a vitamin or have gum in my mouth. If the piece of gum or vitamin go on that side of my mouth I can't feel it and choke if I loose it. haha That side of my tongue is also very sensative to hot and cold liquids now. Luckily I don't have a drooling problem because I saw pictures of nerve replacement surgery and the idea of it grossed me out. I was told by my then dentist that the sensation I was feeling meant the nerve was repairing itself, 3 years later I'm not so sure. Oh well, that's life I guess...it could be much worse.

-K

After reading all these posts, I was getting worried since I had the same symptoms... But, I am glad to annonce that it took about 2-3 weeks and now, everything is back to normal. The surgeon explained that it was not an injury to the nerve but really an injury to the gum (and then, it was putting pressure on the nerve). Really hope that your situation will be similar to mine and go away within a few weeks. Don't be afraid to go see your surgeon, if you have any doubt.

I am ten days post op from having 7 teeth out four of them being wisom and one of those were impacted.The impacted side has left me with extrem numbness on my lower chin and lip, some times it feels itchy ?? I am having trouble pronouncing words and feel like my face is drooping..I hope i get some feeling back as it is driving me crazy.

I had all four wisdom teeth out 8 days ago (I'm 25). The bottom two were horizontally impacted and were cut out by an oral surgeon. I experienced very manageable pain during recovery and very minimal swelling.

It turns out that Percoset makes me very nauseous, so after the first miserable dose, I switched to 800 mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours for the first few days. I really didn't have "pain" as much as I had tenderness and a sore jaw.

My oral surgeon gave me a velcro-able head sling with pockets for ice packs on both sides of my face, so I kept my jaw iced for pretty much 2 days straight (I think that's why my swelling wasn't noticeable).

I knew going in that I had a slightly higher than average risk of temporary numbness of my lip/chin because of the proximity of my lower impacted wisdom teeth to my inferior alveolar nerve. When I woke up after surgery, the oral surgeon said he didn't think there would be any complications and he didn't think he'd even come close the nerve on either side. Once the anesthesia wore off, I realized the right side of my lip and chin were very numb. It didn't feel as bad as I thought it would, and I didn't notice unless I touched it. It felt like I'd been numbed with Novacaine. After 3 days, it started to itch occasionally, but it still wasn't what I'd call "bad". I knew since I could still feel things like hot/cold when I touched it that the nerve hadn't been completely severed and that there was a high likelihood that it would heal eventually. I decided not to worry about it because it can take up to 6 months to fully heal, so there's not really anything I could do. On day 7, I woke up and had a pretty substanstial change in what I could feel - it still felt Novacained, but I could distinguish between changes in pressure when I touched it. On day 8 (today), almost all feeling has returned and it's incredibly itchy. It's healing a lot faster than I thought it would, which makes me think that it was something putting pressure on the nerve during healing instead of the nerve actually being bruised. I wanted to share so that at least a few of the stories on here end happily. Good luck to everyone who's been struggling with this long term!

It is nice in some way to know that other people are experiencing that same issues, but also its freaking me out as well. I had my wisdom teeth out 7 months ago and the lip and chin numbness is really becoming a problem, I also notice that sometimes when eating I feel a sharp pain in that area, it only lasts a minute but it is pretty painful. I am a nurse, so I understand the side effects of surgery but to think this could last years if not forever is seriously depressing!!!

I had my lower right wisdom tooth removed on Saturday and today is Wednesday and my jaw and chin are still numb. Not to mention the nasty scare the dentist left behind on my lip as he used the metal tool to remove my tooth. I hope evetually the numbness and feeling in my lip and jaw will return.

The emotional havoc this wrecks on a person is beyond comprehension!!! I was in tears the whole week before i had my surgery to remove my upper teeth. I knew i had no choice and i had been putting it off for over 3 years, (actually longer) as I had worn both upper and lower partial plates and had several root canals to no avail. WASTED MONEY!! I so hated to get it done as i had BEAUTIFUL TEETH..my teeth and my eyes are my winning features.

It has been since LAST THURSDAY,,this is Wednesday AM past midnite and im STILL devastated at the site of myself. My lip is sunken in,,theres a huge knot under my nose....even though the teeth look beautiful and custom almost like my own ...my face is horribly deformed!!! Im so heartbroken. I have not got 50,000 to restore my beautiful smile. My migraines are almost relentless. Please tell me what i can do to look even 1/2 better. please please help. Im so depressed. Im not that old and i feel like no one will ever kiss me again

I had four wisdom teeth (one impacted)taken out nearly 3 weeks ago. I was warned about being bruised and in pain for a couple of days but was not warned about half of the things that could go wrong. I had the 'normal' hamster cheeks but after 3 days the pain got really intense, my whole head swelled up to double the size so I called the dentist who performed the operation. I was told swelling was normal (without them even looking at me, I think they thought I was exagerating)I called my doctor who also said its not an emergency so wouldn't see me. The next morning I woke (if you could call it that) to my whole body feeling so weak I couldn't move. I spent te next three hours drifting in and out of sleep and floatiness. The pain and swelling on one size was getting worse by the hour so my mum insisted she took me to A&E. The doctor took one look at me and got an oral surgeon down, I was admitted and put on two different IV antibiotics for the severe infection I had plus was given stronger painkillers. I had a massive abscess the which went from my eye socket down to my jaw. The oral surgeon was quite shocked that both my gp and dentist had refused to fit me in. After a couple of weeks on antibiotics I am now looking more like me but the numbness (which has turned into being hyper sensitive to touch) is still there. I went for a hospital appointment Friday and was told that because I was experiencing some spasms and the odd shooting pain the prognosis looks promising as it means the nerves are trying to heal themselves. I am now able to eat very tiny chopped food which is great becasue until a couple of days ago I was living off nutritional drinks and drinking yogurt.! I also ended up with trismus which means my jaw would only open 3mm, thenkfully its now up to 11mm but that still not enough to put even a chip in.! Fingers crossed we all manage to get back to a normal life.

I had my 4 wisdom teeth pulled yesterday and Im still in alot of pain and have a little blood still coming out. Also my cheeks feel swollen to the point i cant eat and I cant barely open my mouth. When I do, I bite my cheek. Can someone please tell me what i can do for the pain? Is all this normal? Also I am 23 and on birth control so is it more likely that i will get a dry socket? Please Im in pain and scared! All I was prescribed was ibuprofen.