Freezing gone bad! (prolongued loss of sensation)

[Guest]

Hello,

If a dentist could help me, I would really appreciate your advise.

First off, I went to the dentist last week, Tuesday, to get an old mercury filling replaced, my dentist advised me that my tooth was broken underneath the old filling and recommended putting in a crown. No problem, I love my teeth and would do anything to keep them going. My appointment was at 3:00PM, most of the freezing was gone by 9:00PM (Which I thought was a little long, but that doesn't matter) My right side of my tongue was still frozen. I woke up Wednesday, and still frozen, I finally got a hold of my dentist around lunch time, and advised him about my 1/2 frozen tongue. He said, that he must have nicked the nerve and that the freezing may last upwards of 2 to 3 weeks. Are you kidding! He advised me to be careful of the hot drinks and not to chew on my tongue by accident.
My question is, is this normal???? Does it happen typically in the Dental profession, or am I dealing with some Mad Dentist?

He also advised me that I would need freezing 2 more times to install the crown. What! After this experience, let me tell you, it's not fun sleeping at night, for some reason, my tongue always gravitates between my teeth.

Thanks for your help......

 

[Guest]

Re: Freezing gone bad! (prolongued loss of sensati

This is not an uncommon thing to happen and has been discussed on this board before. I can't remember where but "Let's" has an encyclopaedic knowledge of posts here and will point you to it.

The numb feeling will most probably pass in a couple of weeks. Hopefully a bit sooner.

 

[Guest]

Re: Freezing gone bad! (prolongued loss of sensati

Actually, prolonged numbness or paraesthesia (that's tingling) hasn't cropped up yet as far as I can remember (maybe it was on usenet?). There was the one about freezing the wrong nerve, one about jaw stiffness, and a few about epi effects.

I've read about prolonged numbness quite frequently, and it would appear that it's not uncommon (but not common either) and can happen to any dentist. It usually clears up after several weeks, but very rarely, it can last 6-8 months. When it lasts that long apparently it's usually due to a nerve injury (when a dentist unintentionally injects directly into a nerve trunk after the patient is already numb and unable to feel it). When it lasts for shorter periods, it can be because some people are more susceptible to the local toxic effects of the anesthetic, or because of some minor injury to the nerve.

Don't know if I got that right though, so if any dentists could comment...

 

[Guest]

Re: Freezing gone bad! (prolongued loss of sensati

Most commonly what happens is that the needle passes through a small blood vessel that sits near the nerve, the vessel leaks out a bit and the resulting pressure on the nerve blocks the path of transmissions leading to the paraesthesia.

Other times the dentist has managed to deposit some LA solution under the periosteum, a layer of tissue that covers the bone, again there's some local swelling which blocks the transmissions. It's pretty rare to actually skewer the nerve with a needle, apparently.

I think this is getting much too technical for most people