hi im jess i think i used to much orajel my lip and and sum chin is numb????? it such a unconfortable feeeeeling help

It has been 2 days. I have been to dentists many times in my 55 years and never experienced this before. Also, I never had Novocaine with epinephrine before. I thought I was going to faint or have a heart attack!The right side of my tongue is numb and it is very annoying!!! The tooth hurts but my tongue is still numb. This is very odd. What's going on with these dentists and their treatments these days?????? I'm pretty brave and actually calm about the dentist , or I was before this happened!!!! Maybe a class action is in order if this is common these days due to some new ingredient in novacaine.

I had all 4 wisdom teeth out 4 days ago. I was given sleeping pills as well as needle injections to freeze my mouth which hurt a lot from what I remembered from my experience. Anyways, I am now experiencing numbness on the left side of my tongue. It sometimes gets worse at night and it makes me not be able to sleep. I work with kids all day long and need to be able to have the proper pronunciation of words. I have been really emotional, cause I was not told ANYTHING of this happening. I have seen another dentist and a doctor, both have brushed me off like it was no big deal. The dentist who pulled my teeth says that time will heal the nerve damaged. I say, "bull crap". For one I do not think that my insurance company should have to pay any money for the pulling of my teeth. I am going to give it one month, and if I do not regain any of my feeling back in my tongue I am going to go to the legal power and filing a lawsuit against the dentist who did this to me. For the money that get from us, I do believe that they should have to study each patients mouth carefully. I also think that they should educate the patient of any problems that could go wrong and give out booklets or brochures on what they are doing. I am only going back to have my stitches out, and I'm even nervous about that. I will never go back to that dentist again.

I've gotten lots of fillings, two crowns, and a root canal in my 40 years, and I never got the numbness in the tongue until I got filling a couple of years ago. My tongue was numb for about 6 months, but recovered fully.

I just had a small filling replaced today, and, as the dentist was injecting my lower left jaw with Novacaine, I felt intense pain in the left side of my tongue. I have a pretty high threshold of pain, but I just about cried.

So, my tongue is still numb. Considering how much pain I was in, I have to assume that he did a real number on my lingual nerve.

My question is, should I find a new dentist? This guy has only given me 4-5 injections, and he's injured my lingual nerve twice. Not very good odds.

If the numbness isn't gone in a few days I'll give him a call. What a nuisance.

It won't make anyone here feel better but I'm glad I came in this forum because I, too, have experienced numbness in half of my tongue after I had crown work done a month ago, and I was concerned that it would always be like that. My new dentist acted surprised when I told her about it when I returned to have the permanent crown put on and she told me that "your tongue must be numb because you were rubbing it against the temporary we put on" --um...ok. After reading all of your entries here, at least I have some answers; I'm not crazy and I can be hopeful that it should go away in time but I have to go back and have the same work done on another tooth so I'm a little apprehensive. It seems like this forum would be more useful if a professional would give advice but I suppose no one wants to put their butt on the line, eh? Hope everyone here recovers soon!

I'm happy to report that the numbness in my tongue is almost completely gone now, 1 month after the injury. I got taste back about 2 weeks after the injury.

So...maybe your lingual nerve gets better at healing if it gets nicked repeatedly. :\

I had gum surgery 2 weeks ago. I have numbness and burning on one side of my lower lip,chin and in between. My dentist says he may have to open it up again and cut the nerve to stop the pain, but the numbness would remain. There is no way i will do this because at this point my lip does not droop. I have taken Neurontin (have it for tingling from chemo)and it helps a bit. Do i have any chance of this going away??

I have this same problem after having all 4 wisdom teeth removed at age 40. My tongue is numb and I can barely taste anything. I keep injuring my tongue with my teeth - it feels like it's swollen. Is there anything I can do to treat this? I cannot take this much longer. I am thinking of shooting myself.

Thanks autumnagain. You describe my condition exactly. I have been trying to explain it to my husband, but not really doing a good job of it. I have had plenty of dental work done in my life, but have never had the electrical shock feeling that I have had the last 3 times I have been to the dentist. It shocked my tongue and lip. My dentist said that that meant he was where he needed to be. Since this last appt. two weeks ago I have tasted metal,and felt pain on the right side of my tongue and under it. My dentist has been working on my crowns for the last 2 months because the crowns that had been made were not good fits. I have to go back Mon. and I am dreading it. Thanks for giving me the knowledge I needed to discuss this with him. In the last two months when I mentioned it he just stared at me blankly. At least now I know what happened. Thanks again!

I had extensive dental work yesterday - I have cancer and have to undergo chemotherapy. I'd neglected my teeth due to previous bad experiences and fear, so I got a few years work done at once (can't do chemo with gum disease) - and here I am, with a damaged tongue! My bad luck continues!

For those of you thinking of suing - the dentist has no way of telling where your nerve is and it's just bad luck that yours (and mine) was hit. There is no perfect medical treatment and it's not neglect or incompetence, it's a known complication of your treatment. Mine told me that it could heal anywhere from two days to two months - to never. He said if I didn't feel improvement I could come in and they have a way of tracking the healing, so even though it doesn't feel to you like it is healing, they can tell it is by millimeters. It eases your mind, even though healing is very slow. You might ask your doctor about that.

My main concern is doing chemo next month. I understand that also ruins your tastebuds and can cause nerve damage - the last thing I need is damage on top of damage!

I a had filling done 2 days ago and like everyone else, I now have a numb tongue. Mine is causing a bit of a speech impediment which gets worse when I'm tired or frustrated (usually from explaining why I am not talking properly). I'm also having problems swallowing. Is anyone else having these problem?

Yes, I had a filling done two weeks ago and half my tongue still has a numbing sensation. It mostly feels like half of it is burnt from drinking something hot. The tooth he worked on is also still sore, probably from hitting the nerve that caused the damage. But I have noticed too that when I am tired or stay up too late, the numbness gets worse and I feel like I'm talking funny. I guess the tongue just needs a lot of rest due to the damage, I hope it goes away soon, because it is annoying the hell out of me!!!