NUMB CHIN AND LOWER LIP

[numbchin56]

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

[Hannahsmith89]

Hi I had my two bottom wisdom teeth out over a month ago now I was very swollen and bruised from it and then a week ago I got another infection causing my face to swell one side even bigger. I have nerve damage half of my tounge on my left side and on my right side my lowere lip chin and gums i get tingling and dragging feeling alot. I find it very irritating and it affects my day to day life I feel like i have gone from a smiley person to hiding away. The last few days if i rub my lower chin i get tingling in my lip? Has anyone else felt this ? Does anyone know if this is a good sign that my nerve is healing ? Sorry to hear so many of u have gone through this ita doing my head in arghhhhh x

[Timeheals60]

Sometimes...not always tongue pain is associated with lingual nerve damage.  Chin and lip numbness is typically associated with the inferior alveolar nerve.  What I want you to know is both nerves will continue to regenerate 'throughout your lifetime'  Please read this forum in its entirety including what I wrote above about the unknowable future.  Nerve recovery depends on 'amount of injury' to the nerve.  This is pretty unknowable without doing the time to find out how much recovery you will gain.  If you want more information post more detail about your extractions...who did it...surgeon or dentist...what he/she said.  Go back to them and ask questions about tooth root to nerve position.  Address your infection foremost.  Stay positive.  Take meds for either anxiety and/or any nerve pain you experience.  With time your nerves will recover to some degree.
We have all been in your shoes and you will get your life back but it may take quite a period of time.
Take care.

[Meriah211]

Hi Hannah..I am about a month and three weeks out from this same injuries. Right side chin/lip/teeth... And left tongue. Any updates? Are you healing? Do you feel better?

[Polyfobe]

I am very very distressed and desperate, but glad that I found this forum. It is only three weeks since I got this horrible nerve damage after having two loose teeth extracted by a highly specialised dentist. The root of the one tooth (the third after where the wisdom tooth was) was left in the bone when he removed the tooth. So he had to use a drill to get the root out. Before he started I did ask him if there was any risk that he might damage a nerve. He said no. No risk. I then asked him if there was any risk at all. He said no, there is not. I asked, not because I knew of any risk myself, but because my mouth already was damaged for life from a devastating radiotherapy in my mouth and neck 15 years ago. And I knew that I could not live with further damage in my poor mouth. So - I was shocked when I three days later realized that something had gone wrong. I was totally numb in the left half of my lower lip and chin. Burning pain and tension in the area, and a feeling of bad swelling of lip and chin. Nothing has changed after three weeks now. I am 63, so I am terrified that this will be permanent with no improvement. I started to take extra vitamin B, and vitamin B12 plus Alfa Lipon. I read somewhere that it might help the damaged nerve to heal. I cannot know if it might help, of course. But I feel I just have to do something. Has any of you heard of this? Or anything else that might help?
I see that several of you still suffer from this even years after the tooth extraction. I am so sorry for you. I sincerely hope that you will get much better. The story about the woman who suddenly healed after ten years gives us all hope. Though I do hope of course that it will happen for all of us much sooner.

[Timeheals60]

Polyfobe...
check your inbox on this site.  I am sending you a private message.

[Clintk]

Cmon ppl , we need some success stories of the tight, tension feeling in lip and chin easing up with time.

[Timeheals60]

A good time for an update. My inferior nerve was injured due to a lower rear side molar extraction 2.5 years ago.
There is a signature question asked on this forum all the time that is not evident in the medical literature nor can a clinician answer with any certainty and Clint just asked it again here.
The question is this:  Will I recover and to what level?  A basic question that I will give a basic answer to for all those that come here and wonder.  
If you think about wisdom tooth extraction, the reason for the protocols used today is, they widely work perfectly for easily 98-99% of the population.  The people that come here are not within that statistical distribution which is basically shaped like a bell curve.  The biggest consideration for injury is how close the tooth root is to the nerve.  That determines each of our fate.  1-2% of the human population has their wisdom tooth root very close to the nerve.  Many like me for example when this circumstance is presented to a dentist or oral surgeon, they forego pulling the tooth when young.  If a person is fortunate to grow older and has the tooth extracted later in life, they are at very high risk of damaging the nerve with very serious consequences which is what happened to me.
I just returned from the hospital where I had my tooth extracted 2.5 years ago.  I know a lot about this injury having spoken to many MD’s, PhD’s and neurosurgeons including a brilliant young doctor a couple of days ago who collaborated in my case with a team of experts.  I could write a book on this and probably should.
So question again is, “Will I recover?”. The answer is, “It depends”.  Not a very good answer which deserves some explanation. What does recovery depend upon?  Ans: How severe the injury to the nerve is.  You see, if you evaluate this injury from a statistical standpoint, each of us are extremely rare to be here.  Thousands of wisdom teeth are pulled at the dentist each day…many thousand will be extracted today for example with no consequence.  It gets more complicated when you consider the very small percentage of those injured (us) when it comes to who among us will recover?  Here is the good and bad news.  The good news is of this very small percentage injured like us, many will recover just fine with little or very little sensory disruption.  Now the bad news. A subset of those injured will not recover and may in fact live with chronic pain without an intervention of some nature and options for therapies are limited in fact in terms of relief.  The nerve cannot be repaired as it turns out.  It is like humpty dumpty who falls off the wall.  He can’t be put back together again, or at least on a level that creates normal function.  Sadly, in my case, a person that has blessed with extraordinary health for my long life, I have a worse case nerve injury and I will not recover from this.  Oh, maybe in 3-5 years as the nerve continues to regrow…periperhal nerves like the inferior alveolar nerve regrow throughout a lifetime…my symptoms may  lessen in terms of pain with time…or…may not.  I went to visit the hospital after an email exchange…the hospital is 200 miles away from my house…because I am not recovering.  My pain level is the same.  I have nerve pain and numbness after over two years.  I have a worse case injury to the nerve and the stark reality I have to live with.  My injury is among the rarest which btw comports with what a team of surgeons knew about me going into the hospital where I had my tooth extracted.  I had a worse case tooth to nerve relationship.
OK, how do each of you know how severe our injury is going to be?  The further enigmatic part of this saga is, you don’t and can’t be told by the smartest surgeons.  They don’t know and there are no tests for it. Oh, they can look at a CAT scan or radiograph, perform sensory tests like…Do you feel that? etc, but no doctor can predict with any certainty if  you will recover because they don’t know just how badly the nerve was damaged by removing the tooth.

In summary the question that gets asked here all the time like Clint just asked…will my tightness go away?  My answer Clint is…it depends.  It depends on how bad your nerve injury is.  Clint, my tightness has not resolved.  I have tightness everyday and my tightness escalates when I speak or eat. This likely will not change.  There is hope however for others.  Some will recover completely from their nerve injury.  Or some will recover like Starbrite to ‘almost’ a full degree with almost no sensory disturbance.  It all depends on the magnitude of injury to the nerve which is unknowable by modern science to determine.
Lastly, because of my worse case outcome to this injury which has caused me to invest so much of my time to learn about it and different options, at some point, I may come back here and discuss what limited options exist to reduce pain.

If anybody struggles with this injury after a long period of time, please contact me via private message and I will try to help.  I can share some therapeutic options that may improve the quality of your life as I have sought those answers.
My best to everybody here with this injury and hope above gives some perspective to a very difficult question commonly asked.

[destinyx]

Hi there,


I had googled for the past few days and going mentally stress because of my wisdom tooth extraction. I am at my 8th day now post wisdom tooth extraction.


I had my lower right wisdom tooth extracted last week and was warned about paraesthesia as mine was near a nerve.  He did a CT scan and even assured me that he did not hurt the nerve during the extraction process.
On 3rd day after extraction, after my swelling went down, i experienced really tight pressure on my lower front chin and teeth. I have occasional pins and needles and pain radiating through out my lower right chin too.

I constantly felt pressure and throbbing pain on my lower right chin and it is really distracting but I couldn't do anything about it. I returned to my dentist for review on 6th day and he said that my wound healed completed. He explained that the pressure it could be due to the blood clot wrapping or sitting on the nerve and it could take weeks or months to go away.  He told me he had one patient who took 3 months for the blood clot to go away before she slowly gained back sensation.


I was given steriods for 7 days, Magnesium Hydroxide vitamin and asked to return 2 weeks later for review.

I really hope that the numb and pressure feeling can go away asap. I kept on feeling like i got punched in the face and swelled really bad, but i look normal on the outside :<

[one4love]

Hi folks! :)  Well it's been over 2 years now since my last bout with this wonderful injury and I can say just like the last time 'steady as she goes' :)

I see the question about age is coming up again and I can tell you it's not the truth.  The healing process depends on the injury and not age.  Nerves are so complex that blaming age seems a way you can't possibly be wrong, but the truth of the matter is 'no one knows'.

Look, the first few days of this thing are NUTS!!! You want your normal back.  You want to live life like you did before.  You want to remember what life was like kissing and not thinking about drooling. :)

So for round 2 I have moments when I can't control the drip that I didn't feel coming out.  I'm sorry that it's funny to me, but that took time.  At first it is SOOO NOT FUNNY. But after you learn to live with it.  This could be so much worse.

So yes, like timeheals said.  I recovered over 15 years later.  At the 10 year mark it felt like it was teeeny'est tiniest bit of numbness.  It was at the 15 or 16 year mark that i think I was like.. 'omg.. there is numbness nowhere'.  I took a feather and with the most gentle of gentle touches i let it touch my right chin up to the bottom of my lip and it felt the exact same as it did on the other non-injured side.

AND THEN! :) I went and had oral surgery on the other side and voila! Round 2! :)

The recovery for Round 2 was much faster out of the blocks, but then the healing slowed to a snails pace.  The thing is, it's still a pace.  Each day/week/hour/minute there are always changes.

I feel my chin and lip 24/7.  I am always touching it, sticking something into it to see if it feels different than the last day.  There are days when I feel no changes, but then there are others where I'm like 'oh cool.. that's back'. :)

You know what's super weird?  I'd lost the ability to come to this page, but when I started reading, my chin got all itchy and I could feel things firing off.  It was almost like my injured area nerve workers were cheering that the work they do all day every day was being recognized.  :)  Ok .. maybe there aren't workers in my mouth, but the feelings really did start happening.

DO NOT GIVE UP!!!!

I am telling you, this is not as bad as you think.  The first few weeks where you are biting your lip are horrible, but most all of us (no matter the damage level) feel the same the first few weeks.  Depression, 'why-me'dom, some pain, the flippin' tightness, biting the lip, etc. etc. etc.

Like I said I am now two years in to the 2nd round and I think it's helped having gone through this before.  As sick as it may sound to some I don't mind this post tightening part of the recovery.  There are advantages to having this happen.  Warmer food always gets tested on that side first is the biggest win. :)  Flossing on that side.. loves it!  

If I say more I'll just be repeating myself.  I will try to stay updated more (now that I rediscovered my bookmark).  :)

Have a blessed day everyone!!!

#onelove

[Timeheals60]

Onelove,
Wonderful to hear from you and thanks for providing an update on round 2!
Could you do me a favor if you see this?  Could you send me a PM with your email address?  I would like to keep in contact with you to compare notes on your recovery.  I am at 2 years and 5 months on my wisdom tooth extraction which resulted in a consequential injury to my inferior alveolar nerve and I still have a long way to go with many challenging days of dysesthesia.

So, if you could drop me a quick PM with your email so we don't lose touch, I would appreciate it.

Many thanks for contributing such great perspective to this forum.

Be well,
Timeheals60

[Clintk]

So, as unbelievable as it sounds, even if the numbness goes away the tight feeling in the lip ad chin remain. That might be too much for me to live the rest of my life with. THe tension in the lip and whole chin area is going to make me end up doing something stupid

[Clintk]

I really just dont get it, my jaw was broken and thats how my IANnerve was damaged, Not a single one of the docs mentioned me having to face this tightness. IT was only about the numbness that they sad would 95% come back . WIthin 30 days almost all my numbness was gone but this life draining tightness remains unchanged.

Why are people not coming on here at least saying it loosened up for them with time...."timeheals".....with a screen name lime that pls tell me the nerve is g go ing to keep fighting and take some of this tight feeling away. AS quick as my nerve recovered from the numbness why would I be left with a life of this tightness, the docs said I only had a neuropraxia. ......im now 80 days into this mess and dont see how the nerve is going to stop doing this to me

Why does this happen, the nerve is healed pretty much....

[Timeheals60]

Clintk,
80 days in honestly isn't much in terms of the nerve recovering.  Nerves regenerate beyond slow.  Many of us have a lot of tightness.  Not to discourage you, but I still do 2.5 years out from my tooth extraction.  I have close to worse case nerve damage and in fact recently have been diving back in to see what my options are to improve my quality of life.  Two things Clintk...damage within the nerve...jaw breakage/tooth extraction many times results in a 'stretch' injury to the nerve, compromising the interior carriers of communication called axons...and/or...'possible' external compression on the nerve 'if' the canal that surrounds your nerve...the IAN runs through the jaw...'if' it is being compressed externally.  Nerves don't like to be pushed on.  In fact, I am traveling to see my neurosurgeon later today for a CBCT scan to determine if my nerve is under compression.  If not, I will need to explore options to lower my pain which btw, may increase numbness...latter is why I have resisted further intervention to this point.
Many report tightness Clintk....a VERY common side effect to the nerve being injured over and above reduced sensation aka increased numbness.  If you continue to struggle, you need to get with a neurosurgeon and see what your options are.  You have a lot of company.  For peace of mind because putting a broken jaw back together maybe pressing on the nerve, consider a follow up CBCT scan to see if any part of the jaw nerve canal is pressing on the trunk of the nerve would be my advice.  Peace of mind.  If not, then you either wait for further recovery or discuss options to lower your tightness, understanding few really good options exist.
Best Regards.

[Clintk]

But  I still just cant seem to grasp it, if the nerve has  95% healed then why this awful tightness.

So its just going to remain like this forever , heck I cant even picture how the nerve would fix this twisted tight feeling anyways.

I guess heres to a lifetime of uncomfortableness .

Just really having hard time grasping this, the nerve as it heals should correct the feeling in the lip and chin as well.
OR it should at least get better with time and loosen up ...... havet some ppl came on here and said it loosened up and movement felt more normal eventually as time passed

Thanks for answering  and let me know what your cone beam shows and find out as much info as possible on how effective the cone beam can see the nerve within the canal and relation to our injuries.

[ahdz07]

You give me hope! It's been 4 years.i have temperature sensitivity I hope this can eventually go away.

[Fridsygrl9]

I had a molar extracted Wednesday, now my bottom front teeth,  bottom lip and chin are all numb and feel dead. When I told the surgeon, I was told it was on the form, that it may go away but could take a leg time, or met never go away. I had a feeling it was known already. I didn't read all the fine Print. I trusted completely. My bad! It's helpful reading this forum, Also depressing that can take years.  I am older than most on the forum, I will continue reporting and watching, reading. Thankful for the input and experiences

[one4love]

Hey Fridsygrl .. it will be ok ... keep reading here :)  the first weeks/month is the hardest after that i promise to God it gets easier