i got my wisdom teeth out thursday. it went great! little pain afterwards. however my bottom right tooth had its roots growing around my nerve. now i am left with my lower right side of my lip numb, that side of my chin numb and like 4 teeth numb from this. my dentist said that it may be permanent (which i can handle). im just wondering when i should possibly start getting feeling back. i cant even open my mouth all that way. im guessing the nerve is severely irritated. my swelling is almost totally gone ( i only swelled on the right side where they had to cut the whole tooth out). anyways i guess im just looking for reassurance :)
thanks to all that responded. leah my dentist isnt incompetent. you could see that the nerve was intangled in the roots of the tooth. i guess i should have made it clear that it was an oral surgeon that did the removal. he was one of the best in the inland empire. every proceedure has risk. i guess i will wait it out :) i dont have a dry socket or anything but i do get some zings down my jaw so im guessing it may be a good sign :)
I had my wisdom teeth out 4 years ago and they hit a nerve as well. It took almost a month to regain feeling but there is still a tiny amount. I don't agree with a previous post when they said your dentist is incompetent. I went to one of the best dentists on the area and it still happened to me. You won't find a single dentist out there that doesn't list this sort of thing as a risk when you have your wisdom teeth removed.
Find an acupuncturist. They will repair the damage your dentist did. By the way he's incompetent. Get another dentist.
My husband lost all muscle tone on one side of his face years ago, including numbness to his lips, when he had an attack of Bell's Palsy. The doctor told him the nerve might or might not regenerate, depending on the amount of damage done, but he would be able to detect improvement within a couple of weeks if it was going to come back.
About 4 months later, there was no improvement, and I convinced him to see an acupuncturist. He began getting his face back fairly quickly after a couple of treatments, and is almost back to normal.
I don't know whether the acupuncture was responsible, but after so much time with no appreciable gains, and then sudden improvement almost back to normal, I do give the treatments the credit.
Good luck.
You need to wait several weeks until you are actually healed from the surgery. Don't push trying to open your mouth - even without this issue, you shouldn't be trying to open your mouth.
Forget about the numbness for now. You still have to worry about dry socket and infection. Google dry socket and make sure you don't do anything you aren't supposed to do.
After you are healed up, THEN think about the other issue.
Good luck,
Dawn
I had my bottom wisdom teeth out at 15... lock jaw, hit a nerve and lost my taste for a bit, and cant feel the side of my chin/lip/gums on the affected side... lock jaw went away, taste came back after like 2 weeks, but i am 28 and still cannot feel that part of my chin/lip/or gums.
hopefuly u feel better soon!!
Hi J.,
Nerve regeneration, when it takes place (if th nerve was not badly damaged), actually happens about 1cm (about 1/2 inch) per week.
Once the swelling is gone, and the tissues have healed, you can start to look for improvement. (that's 4 to 6 weeks sometimes).
In the meantime, you can prevent scar tissue generation around your jaw (which will impact your jaw range of motion) by trying to move your jaw as much as you can, regularly, throughout the day. The muscles will also need to stay strengthened.
Good luck!
t
I slept for three days straight when I had my wisdom teeth taken out. I was 16 and the pain meds were so strong, I only got up to use the bathroom and eat. All four of mine were impacted, so there was quite a bit of work done. Even after those initial three days, it was still a couple of weeks before I felt completely normal. And I remember it did take a while to get my jaw completely open. About a week. I was so stiff that I had to gradually work my way into opening it all the way. Hope you get feeling back soon!
