NUMB CHIN AND LOWER LIP (2)

[SuperNumb31]

Hi All,

It's been 5 days since I had my 4 wisdom teeth removed and my left lip and chin are still numb... yes numb, just like all of you.

I realized last night that most of my pain was stemming, not from the extraction sites but from the front of my face where I am still numb. I feel tingly, burning, prickly sensations and my lip always feels dry no matter how much Carmex I slather on. My teeth feel tight and I have no feeling in the gums surrounding the area. Although there is no physical abnormality, I feel like I have a golf ball hanging from my lip and chin. Every morning the first thing I check for is feeling in my lip and chin. Every morning I'm disappointed in the numbness I still feel.

Before surgery, my oral surgeon assured me that he would do everything he could to avoid damaging any nerves or my jaw, including removing only partial teeth if necessary. After surgery he said he had not see any nerves and that everything looked great and he was able to remove all 4 teeth without any problems.

It is now 5 days later and I find myself discouraged, a little depressed, a lot scared, and joining this forum.

It seems I have a long road ahead of me...

[SuperNumb31]

Rachael412,

Hey, I'm only 6 days into my healing process but I as a 31 year old female, I too have noticed more hair loss from my scalp. I wouldn't call it alarming. I tend to see plenty of hair in the shower but I have noticed a little more "shedding" of scalp hairs on my clothing and such. I believe it just has to do with stress and like you said, the trauma on the body. I'm not worried about it as long as it's not handfuls and I'm not balding.

I'm sorry to hear about your extraction sites taking forever to close up. Again, I'm only 6 days after surgery but I feel the total opposite. It seems that I have extra cheek meat and gum meat growing around my sites. It feels very weird and I hope all this extra meat around my gums and inner cheeks will correct itself. It's almost impossible to see my wisdom tooth holes behind all the cheek meat, but like you said, your dry socket would have prolonged your healing which really s ucks, and again I'm sorry.

I have also noticed like many others have said on here before that my numbness, tingly, burning sensation seems to get worse at night. I don't know why that is. Maybe while we are resting, the nerve is calm and relaxed but after hours of use and wakefulness, the nerve gets somehow agitated. I don't know. But while I was feeling pretty good all day and getting used to the numb feeling, at about 7 or 8pm the sensations in my chin were unbearable.

I tested my chin with a pin (I do NOT recommend you trying this) with my eyes open and then closed. I pricked the right side first where I have full sensation and then pricked my left side.  With my eyes opened I couldn't feel a thing on my left side. No surprise there. With my eyes closed I could feel a very slight prick, not on the skin's surface but deeper. It scared me partly because I had no way of knowing how hard I had pricked myself (there was no blood so I was fine). Either way, this encouraged me because I felt like somewhere down deep I could still feel a slight bit of something. (Again, do not try this at home).

I have my follow up appointment with my oral surgeon in 7 days and I'm interested in knowing what he will have to say...

[SuperNumb31]

Timeheals60,

Thank you for that. Today I woke up with much less wisdom teeth extraction pain (almost none). The only pain/discomfort I feel now is my numbness.

I had a little talk with my mom and she made me feel a little better. She is not disregarding my numbness and is hoping and praying for a relatively quick recovery (whatever that might mean in this nerve recovery business). She doesn't want me to fall into depression and she shared her own surgery fail stories. She had foot surgery several months ago and has more pain now than every before. She also shared her fears about possibly not being able to walk in the future or having to use crutches or a wheelchair and I must say, it truly humbled me. Yeah, this numbness ***** but I can still walk and talk and eat, etc. So I will try to keep my spirits high.

Before going to bed, I did some mouth and chin exercises hoping to stimulate the nerve (which is probably stupid), but I will continue to try and hope. If nothing else, it helps me to get used to the sensation of my numb chin and how to use it. When I brushed my teeth last night, some Toothpaste dribbled in my chin and of course I felt nothing and only noticed it was there when I looked into the mirror. *sigh* Normally, I'm a very neat/non-messy person (borderline OCD). I guess I'll have to get used to messy mouth slip ups from now on.

I started a second forum (a  continuation of this one) so we don't have to scroll through years of posts to see new responses or to post new posts. I hope you guys will transition to that one (just to make it easier).

Thanks for reading and for sharing!