I felt my tooth being pulled, how and why did this happen?

[lawelch29]

New here and I just had the worst experience at the dentist 3 days ago. I’ve never had dental anxiety but I do now. About 3 months ago I was finally cleared for dental work after 2 years of treatment for a medical diagnosis. All the meds I’ve been on caused dry mouth and I had many bacterial, viral and fungal infections all over my body including my mouth. So I have needed a lot of work done. Last Friday I was having another extraction. It was the very back molar on the upper right (not a wisdom tooth). The dentist gave me a Novocain injection in my palate and it was fine. But the 2nd injection in my palate was so sharp, hot and burning intense I knew something was wrong immediately. I winced and he asked what was wrong but I couldn’t speak or move. It began to feel like I had been struck by lightning or I was part of an electric current! And it pulsated through my whole head and ears. I didn’t know what to do. I thought if I just waited it would stop and I would be numb soon. I’ve had 2 root canals and crowns and 4 other teeth pulled with injections and I’ve had no problems getting numb. Why would this one be any different? I had all my wisdom teeth cut out under light sedation so that was different. So we went forward with the extraction but it didn’t seem like my dentist understood what was going on. I felt everything. I don’t want to be graphic. But I’m surprised I didn’t break the armrests off the chair. Once he got all the pieces out and said he just had to put a few stitches in, I couldn’t keep my composure anymore. The tears just rolled out the sides of my eyes and to the best of my ability I told him I’m not numb and I felt everything. He got the topical jelly and loaded the hole up but I still felt each stitch he put in. He told me he has no idea what happened and he’s never heard of anything like this. But that seems weird to me. It takes me about 45 minutes to drive home and the pain didn’t subside. I thought for sure it would over the weekend but it didn’t and I couldn’t even make it into work today. The pain is so sharp and burning. The vibrating, pulsing, electric current feeling comes and goes now. But it hasn’t gone away?? And I’m supposed to go back to the dentist Wednesday to have some more work done. I have a little bit of fear now. And that’s not me. Has anyone experienced this? I wouldn’t want anyone else to feel this ever! Thank you for reading!

 

[ucdcrew]

That sounds like nerve pain. I'm not a dentist so I don't know why it happened, mine came out of the blue - but has a trigger point in my mouth. I got medication from my doctor for it. I dont know if the dentist can prescribe those meds or not, but I'd call and tell him exactly what you wrote here. He might send you to your doctor though, mine did.

 

[drhirst]

Hi lawelch29.

Whoa... that sounds like a really awful experience you had. I am not surprised you are worried about having further treatment.
It is very difficult to be sure what happened here. In thirty years. I have not seen anything exactly like that. My guess is that the needle hit and traumatised a large nerve that runs along the palate. This is extremely unusual in this area. Normally, if the needle actually touches a large nerve you get an electric shock like sensation that is gone as quickly as it arrived.
My advice would also be to tell your dentist how you are feeling. I would expect him to proceed extremely cautiously, and in the unlikely event of any similar problems being encountered to abandon the treatment and refer you for a specialist opinion. Having said that it is extremely unlikely you will have a problem.

Hope it works out

Lincoln