Paresthesia/Facial Numbness after Wisdom Teeth Removal

[billsfan6011]

I had my Wisdom Teeth taken out 2 weeks ago...ever since then my right lip and chin have been completely numb...I went back to the Oral Surgeon who wants to wait a month to see what happens, I have a follow up appointment in November right before Thanksgiving.  Is there anything I can do to help?  Based on common experience, how long does nerve damage "usually" take to heal?  I feel like I am in the dark...I cannot stand it...I am getting married next year and want to be able to kiss my husband!  Also, what is the % chance that is could be permanent?

Thank you in advance for all answers, I am so scared!

[Amy1435]

I realise you posted yeaaars ago but if you receive my comment please reply! Anybody! Just (about 3 days ago) had all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed and its awful. They had to drill into the bone to get one and the surgeon said that one of them was especially difficult to remove. Ever since, I've not been able to feel the lower left side of my lips and half of my chin and ITS HORRIBLE! After reading some of these comments and seeing that there could be a possibility of it LASTING FOREVER I am terrified! Please can somebody reassure me that this extreme pain and numbness will go down. I know its only been days but the surgeon said the numbness would only take a day to go! If anybody reads this BEFORE getting there wisdom teeth removed- DO NOT GET ALL 4 DONE AT ONCE. ITS AGONY. WAY TOO MUCH PAIN.

[gakabu]

A word of encouragement.  After removal of four teeth and one that was coming in kind of 'sideways' and quite impacted, my son had total numbness of half of his tongue. The Dr said the 'average' is 12 weeks to slowly regain some feeling based on the test he did on it..  8 weeks in I"m happy to say he is 'starting' to feel something.  It was so numb that he didn't even feel a surgical needle poking him but now he can kind of feel it if we touch it with a toothpick.  We were SO horrified and discouraged when this happened, because the dr. kind of brushes it off as 'well thats a risk'...just be patient...but when it happens to you and you don't expect it, it is totally scary and awful.  My hope and prayer is he will regain all feeling as I hope and pray the same for all of you.  When they say be patient, that is really all you can do.  We were so relieved when he started feeling something again, so hang in there!

[E_Rock]

I had a third molar extraction a year and a half ago and it took about 4 months to regain any sensation other than complete numbness in my lip, chin and front teeth.  Odd that it doesn't hurt at the extraction site, but where the inferior alveolar nerve leaves the teeth line and enters the chin.  After I started to regain sensation the pain was horrendous.  I can't explain how this has affected my life.  I can be really depressed about at times and people have a hard time understanding what I am going through.  I am seeing a pain management specialist who is providing me lyrica and norco to deal with the pain.  It helps, but certainly doesn't get rid of the pain.  It just allows me to forget about it for a while.  If anyone would like to discuss this more please post and I can get you my email address.  Sometimes it is nice to pop on here to see that I am not the only person in the world who is dealing with this menace.  I would have never thought this could happen with a tooth extraction.  Also, Cannabis works really well for my pain, but my doctor has said that if I continue to use they will not continue to prescribe my other medicine.  I completely understand, but it did help almost more than the others.  

[lals11]

Hi,
I had my 2nd molar out at the beginning of Feb 2013, my dentist never discussed the possibility of paraesthesia with me, and once he extracted my tooth he did comment on how long my root was.  After 48 hours and no feeling in my left lip and chin and my lower teeth, I contacted the dentist and he advised that in may take up to 6 months for it to fully heal. I got an x-ray and you could see how close my root actually was to the nerve, I started taking vitamin B and vitamins for bones…not sure if this helped but anything was worth a shot, some days it was really bad and felt so heavy. I always had some slight tingling and on week 5 I began to feel the bottom of my chin, from then, as the weeks passed the feeling started to work its way up my chin and finally to my lips and teeth. Today, 16 weeks later, it is not 100% but I it’s getting there, I’d say its 95% back to normal  so there is hope, after the scare I vowed of sugar and haven’t looked back, I do not want to get another bottom tooth out….ever, even if it did come good in the end!!!
Good luck all out there with this,I really hope you all get back to normal

[pal117]

I had a third molar extracted two months ago. It was really close to nerve and had a large cyst around it. I went from oral surgeon to oral surgeon but nobody wanted to do it. Finally, I found an expert who told me about the risks but accepted the case. I paid him a lot of money too ($5K and the insurance covered about $3K). I had almost complete numbness after the surgery on my chin and my front teeth felt really weird. I was pretty depressed, although the doctor told me that over time things will improve. Well, it turns out he was right. On my chin I have 100% sensation back and my front teeth have probably 2% odd feeling left. Doesn't bother me at all. So for all of you out there scared and depressed: there is hope! You just need to be patient. I know it is hard but it does pay off.

[kellymcgee]

Hello, I just read your post and yes its a difficult decision but the consequences of not having it done can be worse, repeat infections can lead to osteoporosis in the jaw and bone infections can be very difficult to remedy.  I also had repeat infections, for 5 years!  I got my top 2 out in the chair but had my lower two out under general anaesthetic.  My anaeasthetic was amazing, no nausea, absolutely no pain.  Like many other posts I too have lower chin/lip numbness on the right only and have been feeling like theres popping candy in my gums and lip for the last 3 weeks. To be really clear the nerves involved in these teeth are for sensation only, not movement, so you won't have a droop!  I know that nerves take weeks/months or even years to repair themselves and if your surgeon is experienced they won't go near the nerve.  I was told by my surgeon that he saw the nerve and left it alone, needed to leave the root of the tooth in place.  Its very uncomfortable but not going to let it get me down.  I'm keeping my mouth really clean, lots of salt water mouth washes etc and needed antibiotics straight after as my teeth were infected on removal.  I'm going to see my surgeon this week so fingers crossed I don't have a 'dry socket'and all is healing as it should.
Hope this helps and good luck with your decision.