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NUMB CHIN AND LOWER LIP

HAD LOWER LEFT WISDOM TOOTH OUT TUESDAY AND NOW IT IS SEVEN DAYS LATER AND STILL HAVE LEFT LOWER LIP AND LEFT SIDE OF CHIN NUMBNESS AND FRONT LOWER TEETH AND GUM ON INSIDE ALSO..GOING BACK TO ORAL SURGEON ON THURSDAY TO SEE WHAT HE SAYS..ALSO ALTHOUGH THERE IS THE NUMBNESS I HAVE PERIODIC ITCHING FEELING AND CRAWLEY FEELINGS IN MY CHIN AND LIP, DOES THIS MEAN I HAVE INFERIOR ALVELOAR NERVE DAMAGE..WILL IT GET BETTER  IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN TAKE TO HELP THIS SITUATION..THANKS FOR THE HELP
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Avatar universal
Man, just last saturday I thought things were finally rounding out and shaping up and finallly turning a corner for good .

Jaw was feeling better , lip wasnt tight at all , chin area wasnt painful to the touch or tight , but now as I write this it seems as if everything is back. Just hit the 6 month mark so time is running out and this current regression might be too much for me to handle .

There is no reason for my nerve to slowly get better over the last so many months and now all those gains seem lost .Tell me how that makes any sense , Im not sure if I can live like this as the quality of life and the way the nerve gives hope then regresses as time is running out is becoming a deadly combination.  

Thoughts have really been running through my mind big time.  What a monumental letdown btw that no one comes here to report any positive feed back anymore .

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Avatar universal
I have an appointment wednesday for some kind of electro accupuncture , anyone know of or had success with that .
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2 Comments
Echo Echo Echo
Heyy...any improvement in tightness???....also anyone get spasm in chin??
Avatar universal
Well was just given the 6 month death sentence by a oral surgeon as far as my ian nerve damage. Im 5 months into it and still feel tension and weirdness in lip and chin .

Guess the only thing I can do is hang on to hope coming from a few of the ppl here who reported improvements after 6 months .

The pressure of getting better really weighs on the heart and mind , wish I really felt like I was going to continue to improve
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4 Comments
Clint,
Yes, really your only option…time right now until you get to about the 1 year point.  There is no surgical repair of the nerve if the trunk of the nerve isn’t severed.  So all you can do is wait it out.  In another 6 months or so, if you still feel overwhelmed with tightness and/or agitation to the nerve like I have when my chin and lip area are touched or when I speak or eating then I suggest the following:

1. Go to a neurologist and request to have your IAN numbed on the side that bothers you to test to see if numbing the nerve is better than the dyesthesia you have due to the nerve not regenerating back within the normal range of function. A standard dentist numbing procedure is used to see if numbness is preferred to your current level of discomfort.

2.  If as a result of this procedure you prefer having your mouth numbed to the feeling of tightness and heightened nerve agitation you feel, then you may be a candidate for Radio Frequency Ablation.  That is what RFA is….the nerve is burned by a high temperature probe to remove sensation.

With current technology, not soon to change on the imminent horizon, above is all we have.  Regrowing a new nerve aka stem cell therapy is well off into the future.  There is no way to repair the nerve because the damage occurs at the cellular level and cells cannot be repaired.
The problem with regeneration of the nerve which the body does naturally for peripheral nerves like IAN is…if the nerve is injured beyond a certain level…in your case due to jaw breakage and in my case due to impact tooth extraction…when the axons within the nerve grow back, they can misalign which creates the uncomfortable touch sensation.  All one can do if the nerve doesn't regenerate properly and too uncomfortable is...kill the nerve.


I recently visited a neurologist and had my nerve numbed on the lower RHS and it is the most normal I have felt in 2.7 years since my IAN injury.
Almost surprising how much I got used to the discomfort.  I am considering the RFA procedure to kill the nerve so I don’t have to live with the tightness you discuss or the nerve agitation due to speaking and eating.  I found in the hour of so after having my chin/lip/gum numbed, my brain quickly adapted to lack of sensation and it was a much better alternative to agitated sensation of tightness and all the other abnormal feeling associated with jaw movement and touch.

For those that have the IAN injured to the level I have, RFA maybe the best option.

Hope that helps.
Yo Timeheals, the thing is that the tightness has kinda went down a bit
The overall feelling i a bit better, still feel some tickly bubbly sensations on chin as well which leads me to believe its not fully finished.

Just hate how the oral surgeons are so caught up in medical literature and medical literature only that they act like continued healing cant occur .

The pain is only in a spot the size of a dime toward my middle lip and chin , and thats only when I touch it, and even then it sometimes doesnt even hurt when I touch it.

I hope you get to where you want to be yourself Timeheals. I know our injuries are dif though as yours was a lot worse. 98% of my numbness is gone 5 months in . The tightness just seems to act up as my lip ad chin move but even the tightness doesnt feel like such a scab type feeling on chin when it moves. Before it felt tight and really tight when i smiled or talked and the whole area of chin felt like scabby. Now that scabby feeling is gone as well just some residual tightness which is still very uncomfortable

Thing im having the most trouble with is the scar tissue /adhesions from 2 surgeries in my jaw.

The scar tissue is connected to the massatuer muscle and makes opening mouth weird and a tension feeling overall. If anyone knows any secrets besides massage to help with internal scar tissue id gladly listen.

Im just going to keep hoping that like kazlilly said, over time it keeps getting slightly better. Her Ian expert consultant she went to told her that it would keep healing for many years and she could eventually click off from it altogether and she said he was right .

You keep saying a year now Timeheals, do you no longer have much confidence in any noticeable improvement sensations form the nerve after a year ?
Clint,
For me about a year or 1.5 years...I haven't noticed a lot of change.  Neurologists are taught in school 6 months to 1 year.  One4love on this forum said, her numbness went away over a period over ten years!  To me, nerve regeneration is a function of how badly the nerve is injured in conjunction with the immune system of the injured person. So a combination of factors determine to what level you will heal.  Of course we don't know until we do the time.  In the absence of being able to repair the nerve, all we have is time however, so we do the time unless we decide and go in and kill the nerve which is what I am considering because honestly, my mouth still really bothers me...a lot of tightness and pretty severe agitation when I talk or eat.  Fortunately my mouth goes asleep when I do...it never wakes me up so I sleep ok.
But my quality of life is degraded by this injury.

As to your scar tissue, I suggest you research this to see if there any options to reduce it.  I don't know.  My issue is purely sensory and not motor related.  My smile is even and nobody knows but me what it feels like.  My bike and jaw movement are fine.

Clint, no matter what level you get to you will learn to accept it better with each passing month.  Many of us were panicked beyond description by what happened to us.  I could have never imagined all of this would have occurred due to a tooth extraction.  All I expected worse case was numbness and instead I had electric shock and every possible bad sensation coursing through my mouth.  I only wish somebody on this forum would have already had the RFA procedure to advise how it turned out.  I maybe the first one posting here at least.  Its been done because I have read the medical literature and traded emails with the doctor that performed the therapy now out in CA managing a pain clinic.
You will be fine Clint and stay hopeful you will continue to improve.
Many heal completely and some close enough to not bother them in the least.
I just worry about incomplete healing so much . I keep feeling like my nerve is about to turn a corner then it kinda acts up . I hate it . I hate the fact that I have a nerve injury . Im sorry im not as positive as some on this site . Just feel like im 34 and have so much living to do . Ive overcame so many things in my life already , multiple broken bones but this broken jaw has to be the one that causes nerve damage. In the one area I cant handle feeling bad and thats my face.

I gotta pray that somehow it continues to heal itself. Cuz ill be one unhappy person if it stays even how it is now. I need one more chance in life at feeling normal. Just one more chance. But after 5 months I feel like the healing has ran its course. I try to read around on the comments and see people talk about noticeable healing after 5 months but dont really see much of it.

Avatar universal
Well looks like this thread is pretty much over
No one coming on to give positive updates or support
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Avatar universal
Hi All,   I'm so glad to find this forum. Wish I had done  some research before choosing to extract  my right impacted wisdom tooth.  I got my lower right  impacted wisdom tooth extracted along with the top fully erupted wisdom tooth (which  grew sideways). No issues with the top one. My chin went numb  on the right  from outside and  teeth  on the right feel tight feeling pressure especially on the  lower canine  tooth.  The oral surgeon   warned me about this and got a wavier signed for the same. I had a same set of teeth removed on the left side  due to  an infection 8 years ( happened during pregnancy) with no issues and textbook recovery.   This time its not the same,  with this numbness. I really had no issue with the right one.. but just removed it out caution as every dentist that I have seen advised me to get it extracted. I still remember the pain from infection, thought taking care of this would end  being very cautious and the constant fear of if it would infected.
The oral surgeon has said   that the tooth was very long  and  it was kind hooked to the nerve. Said the nerve may be irritated  and  the numbness would go away slowly.


Is there any hope?? Really looking for positive stories.
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2 Comments
Yes, there is hope.  Depends on the severity of the injury to the nerve which is unknowable.  Nerves communicate on a molecular level.  So you will learn of your recovery as time elapses.  Many if not most recover to a level where they have little to no discomfort.  I happened to draw the short straw in spite of doing everything possible to prevent injury.  I had my wisdom tooth extracted in a hospital and they still badly injured the nerve.  I had worse case tooth root to nerve anatomy and the result has been very challenging.  But you may be lucky and the nerve may recover to a high level as it does in many cases.  Somewhat of a lottery as it turns out.
Always choose hopefulness in the absence of knowing a given outcome.  You have no reason to believe you won't recover fully.
Good luck.
@Timeheals60,Thx for the response.
Avatar universal
I am not sure if I am pleased or saddened to have come by this forum. Its only been 4 days since I had a rear right molar (the furthest at the back) removed, which I am guessing is a wisdom tooth. After reading these very useful posts and knowing my own body I am pretty sure I am in for the long haul. No feeling in the lower right quarter of my face as well as bottom teeth feeling tight and pressured. Gutted!! But my Mum always said a problem shared is a problem halved. My fingers are crossed for everyone experiencing this depressing feeling however at the end of the day we are only experiencing loss of feeling to a small part of our very good working bodies. I guess my satisfaction is that one of the most depressing things I am dealing with is respectfully very minor in comparison to what else could go wrong in life. #stayblessed
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1 Comments
JK...
The earliest days are by far the worst.  You will get your life back.  Yes, the earliest days can be devastating. Even if you have worse case which I learned I had and the nerve is badly injured you will survive and be ok.  Also I learned recently the nerve can be killed completely which btw is a procedure I am considering.  It is called Radio Frequency Ablation.  For anybody living with chronic face pain due to molar extraction, send me a PM and I will send you the document discussing this procedure.  What I learned recently, is complete numbness is better than a combination of reduced sensation + neuropathic pain.  I thought giving up feeling completely on the right, lower side of my mouth would be much worse than have some feeling due to a degraded nerve due to extraction + residual pain due to the nerve not regenerating to its original state.  I was wrong.  Complete numbness is much better. I recently had my right side numbed to test this thesis.  So each of us doesn't have to live with pain if that is what you end up with and there is a subset that will end up in pain like I have...although I believe that those who end up in pain due to worse case tooth extraction to be a 'very small' minority of those that are here looking for answers.

So this is a message of hope...
a. your nerve may regenerate to an acceptable level depending on amount of injury to the nerve and this is only knowable until doing the time...you will know in about 1 year or so...and,
b. If you end up in pain, you can have the nerve killed which will allow you to live your life undistracted as your brain will quickly adjust to lack of sensation.

Good luck to all...
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