Shock sensation in chin & lower lip

[Former member 4870]

Recently I had an IANB injection in my left jaw. As the needle was slowly advanced thru tissue, I felt a brief but unpleasant shock-like stinging sensation in my lower-left chin & lower-left lip. Also, it hurt on the left side to keep my mouth open wide, all the way up to my left ear. Could the needle have accidentally touched a nerve? I thought the needle was supposed to get close to the IAN but not actually touch it or any branch of it. Now I'm worried that I'll experience the same unpleasant feeling if I need another lower nerve block in the future. Is there any way to avoid this so that it will be more comfortable? Thank you for your help.

 

[Gordon]

Yes, sounds like it brushed the nerve. It's one of those unfortunate things that can happen, not everybody's nerves are in exactly the same place and the nerve bundle does move around, there's no way to avoid it happening occasionally. Doesn't mean that it's any more likely to happen again though.