Pain After Tooth Filling

Hello. One week ago, I had two small cavities filled in my lower jaw on the right-hand side. I felt no pain during the procedure, and that night I felt only the pain that's typical after this kind of procedure. I had the procedure done Tuesday afternoon, and then Thursday afternoon I began to feel a pain that spread out over the area where the anesthesia was.

My upper and lower jaw, the area around my ear, that all hurt. And my tongue (the half that was numb during the procedure): It doesn't hurt, but it feels kind of like how it feels just when the anesthesia is starting to wear off, and you can feel things again but your sense of taste and general sensation is still altered. Again, these are all the places that I felt the anesthesia affect when I had the procedure.

The pain has maintained the EXACT same intensity it’s had since Thursday. It’s gotten no better and no worse. The pain’s NOT exacerbated by chewing or by hot or cold foods. And the tooth itself DOES NOT hurt. I poke at it, I chew with it, and it feels no different than from before the procedure.

My dentist said the filling might be high, and that might be what's causing the symptoms. He also said that the nerve MIGHT be dying and I might need a root canal if the pain gets any worse/I start demonstrating the typical symptoms (sensitivity to hot and cold, for instance).

When the pain wouldn't go away, I did a search to see if I might be able to find an explanation for it, and one solution I found was uncanny: This article (http://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/pain/maxillofacial/injection-needle-injury-oral-sensory-nerves) describes my symptoms just about perfectly. While I accept that it could just be a high filling or the nerve dying, it doesn’t explain why my tongue feels the way it does OR why I'm feeling the pain up near my ear.

Should I press this idea with my dentist? If it is nerve damage, I don't know how vital it is to get it checked out or treated.

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

It sounds like it may be a nerve injury to me as well.  Usually these conditions will resolve themselves, especially if its due to an injection and not severe trauma to the area such as a wisdom tooth extraction.  You may want to go back to your dentist for a referral for the nerve injury though just to monitor it but usually no treatment can be done.  It may take up to 6 months (although I'm guessing sooner) for it to recover.  If it doesn't recover is 6 months, usually it'll be permanent.  But my guess is that it'll go away sooner than the 6 months.

[INMH]

Thank you for the response! It actually is in the process of getting better now. It's still a little achy, but I haven't needed any ibuprofen in over twenty-four hours. The teeth in the area are a little sensitive when I chew, but I'm chalking that up to the fact that I haven't been chewing with that side of my mouth for the past two weeks (Chewing food didn't cause me pain, but when I know that side of my mouth is in pain my automatic reaction is to not chew anything on that side).